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A Cormputers &
P. ©. Box 1095
Peru IN 46970
$4.95/Issue $18/Year April 1994
% UPDATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS MAGAZINE #
UPDATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS is Edited and Published by Frank and
Carol Davis of P.O. Box 1895, Peru, IN 46978 USA. The phone
number is 317-473-8831 for both voice and fax, with nermal phone
hours being between 5 P.M, and 9:39 P.M, Eastern Yime during the
i i Most answers to questions left on
the machine will be by mail, long distance charges are too
costly for a small magazine.
Hailing date of the magazine: all issues will be mailed out near
the 28th of the months of October, January, April and July, All
mailings within the USA are by bulk mail and may take a few
weeks to reach you at the most. Those wishing to have faster
service may pay 954 extra for First Class Mail. The present rate
for North America is $18 in USS, and $22 for the rest of the
world. Back issues of the magazine are available for $16 per
year in North America and $18 elsewhere (it is cheaper to mail a
bunch as opposed to one issue at a time). There are four issues
to a year, with each year of a subscription starting in October
and ending with the July issue, at which time your subscription
renewal is due. Timely renewals are what keep us in businesst
Assistance in publishing this magazine is provided by you the
readers, many of whom have contributed often in the way of
reviews and articles. He offer you our heartfelt thanks. Our
main assistant locally is longtime friend and colleague, Eliad
P. Hannum, Poet and Psychologist, as well as Sinclair computer
user, Many thanks to our regulars such as Hike Felerski, Bill
Cable, Peter Hale, Paul Holmgren, Al Feng, Don Lambert, Bob
Hartung and many others. You are all welcome to submit material
for inclusion in the magazine. Please make ail hard copy
submissions letter or NLQ; no draft print copies, as we do not
have much time for re-typing. Send at least two copies hard copy
and the article or artwork on disk where possible. No audio tape
submissions, as we do not use tape as a media, please. Try to
avoid flowery or hard to read fonts...unless you are showing us
a sample of the output of a program. If artwork is to be
included in the article, please let us know in what order you
think it should be displayed.
Those wishing to place ads in UPDATE MAGAZINE: He have two ways
of handling ads. ONE, we will do reciprocal ads for other
publications (generally on a year for year basis, with you
sending us a copy of the issues the ad is placed in}. The other
way is to purchase ad space from us, with the following rates in
effect for now: $15 per quarter page; $25 per half page; and $48
per full page ad. This is per issue. For inclusion in all four
issues, you pay for three issues, in advance, and get the fourth
ad free. Should you have questions on this please contact Frank
Davis, by mail or phone as. listed above.
We hope to be of service to you. Thank you!
kkKak UPDATE COMPUTER PAGE DIRECTORY
The computer that an article concerns is marked by using the following mark
in the first column of the directory: TS= article for the TS2068 or
Spectrum; QL= article for the QL or QxXL; ZX= article for the TS1000, 2X81,
TS1500; 88= article for the Z88. GI means article of general interest.
Front cover art by Abed Kahale of CATUG, the Chicago Area Timex User Group.
GI-- Page 1: Directory of Articles in April Issue
GI-- Page 2: Editorial by F.Davis
GI-- Page : Notice to Former SNUG Members by Paul Holmgren
ZX-- Page : ZX81 Tic-Tac-Toe (Doc-part 1, part 2 to appear in July
issue)
ZX-- Page 8: Tic-Tac-Toe ad
ZX-- Page 9: Reference Card for the ZX80, ZX81 & TS1000
ZX-- Page 11: Jim Bretz’s TS1000 Sale ad
GI-- Page 12: RMG- ad (Rod Gowen)
TS-- Page 13: Bill Pedersen’s Diskspeed Program by Don Lambert
GI-- Page 14: Notice From Eliad to All
TS-- Page 14: Tips and Small Items by Eliad P. Wannum
TS-~- Page 15: Letter & TS2068 ROM Bypass Board Schematics by William J
Pedersen
Page 20: Want Ads (always free to subscribers to Update!)
Page 21: Miracle In Newport Two & Other Stuff by Frank Davis
Page 23: Dayton Computerfest 1994
Page 24: Late Breaking News From Mechanical Affinity- ad
Page 25: QL Survivors Source Book & 288 Source Book- ad
Page 26: Doo Dah Correction by Al Feng
Page 26: Computer Classics- ad
Page 27: QL Public Domain & Shareware by Paul Holmgren
Page 29: The QBox- ad
Page 29: Mechanical Affinity- ad
Page 30: Archive Series Part 16: A Review- Describing How to Use Some
Recently Introduced Procedures by Bill Cable
Page 32: QLAMBer by Al Feng (new issue disk for $20)
Page 34: The QBox- USA BBS by John Impellizzeri (a tutorial)
QL-- Page 42: QLAMBer (continued from page 33) by Al Feng
88-- Page 43: Prime Numbers by Mike Fink of Domino Cubes
88-- Page 49: Various Z88 Ads
Back Covers: Issue Disks for the QL and the TS2068 Computers. This is User
generated software from North America for the rest of the world.
AFRIL 1994 EDITORIAL wy Frank W. Davis
PLEASE, ALL SUBSCRIBERS TAKE THE TIME TO READ AT LEAST THE END OF THIS
EDITORIAL. Aconcems fhe furtie of publishing UPDATE! Magazine beyond the current
SUDSCNONON $Cat:
For now let us take a look at other business conceming the Sinclair and
Cambridge computers that so many of us Ike to use, some of us even seem to
treasure them as old friends’, For those who think of them as dead or limited in use, |
can only say you are being too cheap or have not kept up with what is being offered for
them right now, out there in the real world. In this editorial | hope to at least lightly
touch on just what you can do with these little so-called ORPHAN computers’.
First let us look at the Cambridge 288. The only full-service dealer for these in
North America that | know of is DOMINO CUBES. All prices are retail, so expect to
pay full price, but also expect to get service, as Mike Fink is one of the most
knowedgeable people in North America on the 288. You can expect to get everything
from him for your 288 in the way of memory, eproms, software, printers, disk drives,
modems and mobile phones . All of this to use for your Z88.
Another choice for those who want to add on to their 288, is my own company
Mechanical Affinity. We do not have the full range of products that Domino Cubes has,
but what we do have is at very reasonable prices. We have 128K and 512K add on
memory, we have cables for hook up to MACs or to QLs for data transfer, we have soft
carrying cases, we have (on QL or IBM format) disks with 288 public domain and
shareware software , and we have a program to allow you to transfer data and
programs back and forth to a QL. What we do not have we will try to help you find or
refer you to someone who can help, if we know of them.
To get a 288 repaired we can recommend either Domino Cubes or Dan Elliott.
Both are experienced in repairing the few things that go wrong with them. For parts to
fix your own (should you be so brave) contact Mike Fink or join the 288 Club (from the
UK, but international in membership)listed in back issues of UPDATE. Dan Elliott has
an ad elswhere in all issues of UPDATE!
Looking to add internal memory, get the latest ROM for the 288, or buy the latest
program?.... then continue to check out the European ads in each issue of UPDATE!,
many of which are inthe back part of this current issue.
For the TS2068, what is out there you can use to upgrade your current
system? For the first thing | would suggest that you join a USER GROUP or CLUB. It
will put you in better contact with people working on these little marvels, and let you
know of more used equipment when it goes on the market. Even if there is no local
group, jain one as an out of town member. A great public domain library from a group
can be very valuable. The Toronto Club has a very large library for members (thanks
to George Chambers and Hugh Howie) and many out of town members (as well as an
excellent newsletter edited by Jeff Taylor); the Chicago group has an excellent Library
and newsletter and is very supportive of the Larken Interface; and the Oregon group
is close knit and has a good library as well as the benefit of Rod Gowen, the owner of
RMG, as a member ( a very active member!). These are only a few groups, and | do
not mean to slight any that have been left out (that includes my own Indiana group
ISTUG). This is just to say...jcin a group and be active, learn desk top publishing, put
2
out a newsletter...just do something!
Any upgrade or repair you may have a kit or plans for can be done by Computer
Classics to your TS2068 or T$1000 or QL, Dan is good at what he does. You can also
get these things done by Eric Johnson or John Hamner . Send a SASE if you need
more info on contacting these people.
The John Oliger Company, Mechanical Affinity, BMG, AERCO are a few of the
companies still supporting the TS2068. From them you can get disk drives, disk drive
interfaces, programs, extra memory, printers, monitors, dock boards for programs on
eprom, printer interfaces, etc. The prices are reasonable and all have long reputations
of dealing honestly with the customers. Most items are quickly available, and those
that are not will still make their way to your computer station with a little patience.
For the GL, the computer that old Sir Clive Sinclair seems to have wished he
never came up with, we seem to have a very bright future on new hardware and
software. For very good prices on used hardware and software, contact RMG or
Mechanical Affinity.
i , then go to Mechanical Affinity. They have it all. Just what do we mean by
all? The new Super Gold Card, the Falkenberg Hard drive, the QXL, Text87Plus4,
LINEdesign 2, Digital Precision Software such as PC Conqueror and Perfection word
processor, Page Designer 3, Qspread, Qdesign, the Painter, the soon to be released
items such as the SCSI Interface, the QL graphics card to give us VGA graphics and
the soon to be released IDE interface for hard drives. We try hard ta have it all.
Now for the last item. This is the one | wanted you to stay tuned for. UPDATE!
Magazine has been around for almost 7 years. That is a long time for any computer
tag. In that time | have seen many mags go by the wayside, some of them | really
liked, Carol and | need to hear from you as to whether you wish for us to continue after
the July issue and go on for year number eight? We can get enough material and
articles to do so, but we need your support to do so. We have already had some
people send in their renewal early. Those checks have not been cashed, yet. | knaw
we have many loyal subscribers, but we also lose a few each year. Some (actually
most) of those we lose are due to the fact that they have passed away. Rarely
someone moves on to a lesser computer system, lured by items such as CD ROM
drives (you can have them on a QL with the SCSI Interface coming from Miracle).
They go to a bad system that happens to have plenty of new software. We need to
replace these people with new subscribers so that we can remain financially viable.
Let us know if you want us to continue past this subscription year. It would also help if
you got one or two new subscribers for us. No one has ever lost money from us, so
any checks sent will be held till a decision is made. As they say in sports...the ball is
in your court’.
This may come as a surprise to most of you, particularly to those of you who
have never actually met Carol and |, but we have really liked publishing this magazine.
At least most of the time, and that is what counts. Given enough subscribers and
material we would probably continue for another year or two, Help us out and yourself
as well. Write or phone, please.
NOTICE TO FORMER SNUG MEMBERS
Here at UPDATE! Magazine, we recently received the following
from Paul Holmgren, who was the last remaining officer of SNUG, our
first known attempt at forming a national Sinclair users group here
in North America. If you, or someone you know was a member of this
group, then please have them contact Paul at the given address or
phone number within the next 15 to 69 days and let him know where
to dispose of your remaining membership funds. | know he wants to
put this chapter to its final rest and do right by all involved, so
your kind co-operation would be greatly appreciated. Some of the folks
on his list are no longer alive or living at the same address, so if
you know someone who may fit in this category, let them know about
his offer. Most of those involved only meant to be of help and got
involved with something that took up more time than they had free,
but Paul has seen it through to the end.
“ Gree tings,
Gur records shout that you joined SNMUS several years ago.
Oily 2 issues of the Newsietter were ever done.
As the remaining person involved with this effort { am now
prepared fo clase the books on this entleavour. for various
reasons (t proved to be a bigger job than mast of those
involved with its’ moeption were able ta handfe.
The tre. minus Expenses far the 2 issues of the newsletter
and this offer are ta be returned ta the membersfip.
By agreement with UPBATE. (QLAR & TSNU, you mai fo have
your existing subscription extended tn these fine publica tions.
7f you wish me to send a pro-rated refund check instead. PLERSE
sead 2 post card, letter or call me.
Paul Hols
bet otiol i 65st
ff. nS.
fH? -2U-68SE
This is a sincere offer on Pauls part, so if you are one of
these people, take advantage of this offer. | know that TSNUG, IQLR
and my magazine. UPDATE would be willing to work with you and Paul on
this offer. For those who choose to extend with UPDATE, or start a
subscription, we will accept the refund check and you would then only
owe the balance to either renew a subscription or to start a new
one.
Most Sincerely.
Frank UW. Davis
UPDATE Editor
"2X81 TIC-TAC-TOE"
Copyright (C) 1983
Albert F, Rodriguez
DOCUMENTATION
PART I
Apart from its entertaining value, this
program was meant to be an exercise in
learning about the actual aspects, functions,
and limitations of the Sinclair ZX8l
microcomputer and its version of the BASIC
language. It also provided a tool for finding
if, given the technology of this machine,
quality software could be produced and, if
indeed so, how would someone do it.
First of all, a word of caution to the
reader, about what lies ahead, is in order.
Some of the concepts presented in this paper,
which pertain to programming habits and
techniques, were borrowed from works by other
parties, Careful attempts in this work have
been taken to clearly credit their ideas to
each of them. However, the integration of
these ideas into a concise whole, as vell as
any derivations of new ideas therefrom, it is
only this writer who does accept full credit
and responsibility for this work.
The game, in itself, is no novelty. There
are other more exciting games that can be
played. But considering what follows, an
investment in this one might be more
worthwhile. There are many programs available
today that are fun to play, but few share
with its owner an explanation about what was
learned when they were written.
As a novice I must say that I was ob-
livious to the most basic aspects of writing
@ program using this machine: space and time.
Both of these elements are usually, but not
always, directly proportional, The less
available programmable memory used, the less
time it should take for a program to either
execute or transfer from cassette to the
computer. The load time for this program is
4.17 minutes, without any special hardware
assistance. It is saved, self-runs, and
executes entirely in FAST mode. The actual
RAM occupied by the program is 10535 bytes.
How this figure was determined reveals a
relevant procedure about programming with
this machine.
Both the ZX81 and TS1000 User Manual fail
to discuss how a given amount of RAM
programmable memory can be measured in order
to determine the total amount of it
available, used, and remaining for
programming.
It 48 well known that a byte is a memory
location that, when active, is holding either
blank space, numerical or alphanumerical
charactera. Given, as an example, a machine
with 16K of RAM that is turned on and is not
exhibiting a program, plus the fact that 1K
is equal to 1024 bytes, we would expect that
its total available programmable memory is
(16 x 1024) 16384 bytes. Yet, the display
file constantly occupies 1K of memory, even
when it is providing nothing but a _ blank
screen with a cursor (for this piece of
information I am grateful to Memotech
Corporation, 7550 W. Yale Ave., Suite 200,
Denver, Colorado, 80227). Hence, a blank
screen actually represents 1024 bytes of
memory occupied by character spaces.
If the programmable area of the screen
consists of only 23 lines and 32 columns,
then there are only (23 x 32) 736 program-
mable memory locations (i.e., only 736
programmable bytes) available in the display
file. The other (1024 - 736) 288 bytes in the
display file are found starting with the
first line after the cursor line in the work
space area and consists of (288/32) 9 lines,
each having 32 columns, If, then, we subtract
288 from 16384 we obtain the total available
bytes —16096— that can be used before the
machine's entire programmable memory becomes
full.
To determine the amount of programmable
memory used by a program, the following
expression should be placed as the last line
of a program and executed with a GOTO from
the immediate mode:
9999 Print Peek (16404) + Peek
(16405) *256-16597;"" BYTES"
(In part, for this expression, 1 am grateful
to Ms Toni Baker, Mastering Machine Code On
Your ZX81, Reston Publishing Co., Inc., 1981,
page 30). The figure 16597 was determined by
taking the starting address of the program
area (16509) then adding to it the bytes
occupied by this expression (66) and 22 more
bytes occupied by another — expression
(described below) that reveals the amount of
programmable memory remaining.
In determining how many bytes of pro-
grammable memory remain during, or after, 4
program is being, or was, composed, the
following expression should be placed as the
first line of a program and executed from the
immediate mode by the statement “Print USR
16514":
1 REM EQRNDLN ACS : FAST AT 5
= GOSUB PI FAST AT TAN
(For this expression I am grateful to Dr. Ian
Logan, “Bytes Remaining—8K," SYNTAX, Vol. 2,
No. 12, Dec. 1981, page 5). With this
expression I obtained 5559 bytes of memory
remaining after finishing my program. My
memory used (10535), plus my memory remaining
(5559), equals 16094. If, however, we add 2
bytes occupied by the cursor sign, then, we
have the exact sum (16096) of the total
available programmable memory for a 16K
machine that was mentioned earlier.
Another pertinent phenomenon I realized
about both time and space, while writing this
program, was about how the ZX81 uses its
available memory to store and manipulate data
and the effect of same on processing time.
My primary concern while writing my pro-
gram was whether I could fit it all within
16K of RAM. I strived to make my routines as
concise and as frugal as possible with
respect to the utilization of memory.
Consequently, my programming impetus was to
make a program that was primarily a space
maximizer: "Do all that you have to do, with
what you have, in the least amount of space
that you can."
It was the inadvertent pursuit of this
maxim and the fact that I happened to be
reading Chapter 3 of Mr. Randle Hurley's
book, The Sinclair ZX81: Programming For Real
Applications (The MacMillan Press, Ltd.,
1982, 164 pages), that made me become aware
of the fact that less space utilization does
not always result in less processing time
required for a program or routine to execute
properly.
It would be redundant (and beyond the
scope of this work), to reiterate the fine
explication that Mr. Hurley provides in his
book, as proof, of why the ZX8] sacrifices
processing time at the expense of storing and
manipulating more accurate data than, say,
its forebear the ZX80. It suffices to say
that the ZX81] pays for these new capabilities
in terms of more time and less speed during
processing.
It should, therefore, be a priority of
2X81/TS1000 programmers, who use BASIC, to
accomplish their programming objectives by
using instruction-code techniques that
minimize memory consumption while simul-
taneously maximizing (or at least not
minimizing) processing speed.
In his book, Mr. Hurley identifies five
important techniques that were helpful to-
ward obtaining an optimum memory-cost-to-
processing-speed (MC/PS) ratio when I wrote
my program. Though I did use most of these
techniques in writing my program, I cannot
honestly claim that each part of my program
represents the most optimal achievement of
said ratio. Nonetheless, they were employed
enough to make somewhat of a positive effect
on processing speed and memory savings.
First, there is an advantage in using
numerical variable names versus using numer-
ical constants within code expressions. The
savings in memory costs can be as much as 40%
while still maintaining a faster processing
speed. It is for these reasons that all of my
subroutines, within the program, are called
via a respective variable name. This
technique also helps to easily access a
particular routine in the program for
purposes of editing or debugging.
Second, one of the most important as-
pects about my program is that it requires
and makes plenty of use of For/Next loops.
How these loops are structured can have a
significant effect on the MC/PS ratio. How
they can be made to optimize this ratio is a
matter of determining the instruction-code
placed inside this type of loop structure,
which will use the least amount of memory to
accomplish the necessary eccurate manipu-—
lation of data with the least amount of loop
repetitions. Specific examples illustrating
this principle can be found in Mr. Hurley's
book on page 36.
Third, another benefit regarding how to
preserve processing speed while saving memory
is in how values are calculated with For/Next
loops containing different arithmetic func-
tions. For example, values determined by
power functions tend to take longer to
compute than if either multiplication or
addition were used instead (Ibid, page 36).
Fourth, a substantial optimization of the
MC/PS ratio results by initializing numerical
variable name constants, in the immediate
mode, versus listing thea within the
programming area. For both memory costs and
execution time are augmented when these
variables unnecessarily occupy space, both in
the instruction area and the variable store.
If entered via the immediate mode they will
still be saved on tape; so, why list them in
the instruction area again?
Finally, Mr. Hurley's book briefly men-
tions that where a subroutine is located in
a program can affect the MC/PS ratio (Ibid,
page 37). Routines (that differ only by the
size of their line numbers) at the beginning
of a program use less memory, but are slower
in executing; whereas, those further down the
program execute faster but use more memory.
From this observation I deduced that it
would be prudent to locate my subroutines, as
often as it was practicable, below and as
near to the place that they have to be called
from in order to achieve an optimal MC/PS
ratio. This technique can best be imple-
mented, given a program that is relatively as
multi-functional as is mine, by using what I
call: "drivers." (For this term, but not the
meaning given to it below, I am grateful to
Messrs. Frank L. Friedman/ Elliot B. Koffman,
Problem Solving And Structured Programming in
Fortram, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc.,
2nd. Edition, 1981, page 299).
A driver is similar to a "main program"
(to learn about the concept of a nain
program, see the Chapter on Subroutines in
the User Manual). A driver calls one or nore
subroutines (or another driver(s)) within an
overall program in a certain order, depending
upon how its author wants them to be
executed. Yet a driver differs from a main
program in that is actually a subroutine that
may be called by a main program (e.g., see
the driver routine GAME in my program, which
is called from line 119 and consists of lines
7001-7011).
There should be only one main program
within an overall program, but there can be
many drivers within an overall program. The
unique value of a driver is that it allows a
subroutine or another driver, far below in
the overall program, to be nearer to the
actual place from where it is being called
within the overall program. And this, indeed,
contributes to a better MC/PS ratio.
The procedural rules derived from struc-
turing (as efficiently as possible) the main
program (see lines 112-120), drivers and
subroutines (see Declarations below for exact
line numbers) within my overall program are,
for convenience sake, referred to as "Rules
of Top-Down Design," and can be summarized as
follows:
1. A main program is placed in-
mediately after the program's
name and any commands/initial-
izations, if any,that appear at
the beginning of the instruc-
tion area.
2. A main program begins with ei-
ther a subroutine or a driver
call, and it ends with a GOTO
statement.
3. A main program calls either dri-
vers or subroutines; it best
calls itself with a GOTO state-
ment,
4. A driver or subroutine are lo~
cated best when they are below
and nearest to where they are
being called.
5. A driver or subroutine are lo-
cated, in an overall program,
in the order that it is first
called by a main program or ano-
ther driver.
6. If a driver and main program
both call the same driver or
subroutine, then, this same dri-
ver or subroutine is located in
the overall program in the order
first called by the main program,
A driver calls either one or
more drivers or subroutines.
8. A driver or subroutine should
contain at least one RETURN sta-
tement.
9. A driver or subroutine best
calls itself by using a GOTO
statement.
10. A subroutine, to be considered
as a subroutine, must not con-
tain either a driver or another
subroutine.
11. Both a driver and subroutine
are best called by a GOSUB sta-
tement, unless they each call
itself, pl eo a
12, Always use the smallest line
number possible when writing
each line of a program,
So far I have been elucidating some of
the procedural techniques used in writing and
structuring my program. This presentation
however, would be incomplete without an
explanation of what each particular section
(from top to bottom) of the overall program
does and why it was written, It is toward
this end that I dedicate the rest of this
work,
“
(©) 1983
A. Rodriquez
Piayer Takes “O"
Computer Takes “X"
Player Gets First Move
ZX81 TICTACTOS fl
Copyright (<) 1983
filbert F, Rodriquez
PROFILE
$12.00 in cassette (domestic)
$14.00 (foreign)
With documentation
For: 2X81, TS1000, TS1S00 ROMRAM: 8H/16K
Written In: Sinclair BASIC Program Listable: No
stings Available:
Yes, $6.20 (domestic)/$7.20 (foreign) with doamentation
Syntactic Sum: 433, 255
Price:
This program was written to be both entertaining
and educational to its user.
There are about 457 variations of this game that
can be played, given how the program is written.
The computer plays an optimal game. It goes for a
win when it can or it attempts to prevent from losing
by yielding a draw. The challenge for the player is, of
course, in trying to beat the computer or in not letting
it beat himvher by forcing a draw.
The player is always allowed the first move; thereby,
giving himvher five moves versus the four moves al-
lowed the computer. The player and computer are pre-
assigned the characters “O” and “X", respectively, in
inverse video.
The program Is self-running. Within the program are
instructions for exiting and re-entering the game (e.9.,
to exit press BREAK during execution; to enter key in
GOTO 7). Never should the player enter either RUN
or CLEAR; for this will erase all data pre-programmed
into the variable store. If this should occur, reloading
the program from cassette is necessary.
There are three distinct features of this program
that make it very “user-friendly”.
First, if the player makes a move with any type of
data other than the single numbers 1 through 9, he/she
will receive a prompt message that says: FALSE MOVE;
TRY AGAIN.
Second, if during the course of a particular game a
player makes a move already taken by either himself/
herself or the computer, then, a prompt message will
appear that says: REPEAT; TAY AGAIN.
Both of the above prompts appear for about two
seconds, self-erase and then allow for a new move to
be entered.
Third, in the event that the game ends either ina
WIN or a DRAW, a prompt message Is displayed inform-
Ing the player of either outcome. In the case of a WIN
an extra nicety is added: a thick, black line aossing
through the row, column or diagonal in which three
characters of the same kind appear.
When a game comes to an end the final outcome
is displayed for about fifteen seconds, then the pro-
gram loops back to the beginning and sets itself up
for a new game.
Listings of the program are available for a said price,
but without the necessary data pre-incorporated Into
the variable store it is non-functional. There is certain
information that was put into the program via the
immediate, input mode which is essential for the
proper execution of this program.
A complete listing of the program, its arrays/vari-
ables and their respective values are for sale and may
be bought for a very reasonable price. Along with this
information the buyer will receive detailed documenta-
tion about how this program was made as a precise
and Interesting computer game that is fun to play and,
hopefully, a worthwhile tutorial in computer program-
ming.
If bought in cassette the above documentation
comes with it, but the program is not listable on the
screen. This was done to prevent any “bugs” from
sneaking Into the program inadvertantly that might
cause the program not to execute properly. Thereby,
this should allow the buyer to have full satisfaction
about what he/she Is buying for hishher money.
AFR. SOFTWARES
1605 Pennsylvania Ave/No. 204
Miami Beach, FL 33139 USA.
(305) 531-6464
Floridians add Sales Tax Dealer lnquirles Welcome
U3 (c) 786
REFERENCE CARD FOR THE
ZX80®, ZX81°
AND
TIMEX SINCLAIR 1000™
*ZXB0 and ZXB1 are registored rademarks of Sinciar Research LTO
© 1982, CYBORG SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, INC., end SHIRLEY A. & PAUL P. NANOS
TOP CODES
FOR Zx81
BOTTOM CODES
FOR zx80
® = ZXB0 ONLY BASIC STATEMENTS:
2X81 ONLY
STATEMENT © DESCRIPTION
CLEAR © Clear ail program variables.
CLS ¢ Clear screen.
DIM var (num) » Define array “var” with “num” entries
(num |, num...) * Define array “var” with “num entries.
umi TO num? © Loop thru NEXT until var exceeds num2
“FOR var -num! TO num2 STEP iner * Loop thru NEXT, stepping “incr”
*DIM
FOR vai
GOSUB fine ® Pertorm rin at “line” until RETURN.
GOTO fine @ Branch to “line”
IF cond THEN action ® Execute action based on condition,
* Capture keyed reponse into “var”.
jue © Assign a vaiue to variable.
*LPRINT item (; [,litem. ..) © Print data
*LPRINT TAB num;item [; |, [TAB.
*LPRINT AT Iine,col;item (; (, |AT
NEXT var ¢ End of FOR loop. increment var
* PAUSE frames * Halt execution until tme-out.
*PAUSE 40000 « Halt execution until key pressed
*PLOT (horlz, vert) # Turn on graphics biock at this location.
POKE addr, num * Store number at address.
PRINT item |; [, Utern . ..] @ Display data.
*PRINT TAB num;item (TAB
*PRINT AT Jine,col;item (; |, [AT
RAND num * Re-seed random number generator.
REM © Remarks follow this statement.
RETURN ® Return trom a GOSUB.
*SCROLL © Scroll 1 line toward top of screen.
STOP # Interrupt program execution.
|] ® Print with tabs.
© Print at position,
© Display with tabs
.] © Display at position.
*UNPLOT (horiz, vert) © Turn off graphics block at this location
*SLOW
PARENS NOT REQUIRED FOR PLOT/UNPLOT.
* FUNCTION Enter function mode
*GRAPHICS Enter or exit graphics mode.
LIST Ilineno| Display program lines on screen
*LLIST [lineno} Print program jines on printer
#LOAD Load first program found on cassette
*LOAD “name” Load program "name" from cassette
NEW Clear memory and restart
RUN [lineno} Execute program
SAVE Save program from memory to tape
*SAVE “nam Save program called “name” to tepe
2x81 ONLY
DESCRIPTION
interrupt execution until CONT
Continue after BREAK or STOP.
Print screen contents on the printer
Edit current program line
Enter high-speed execution mode
Enter slow-speed execution mode
EDIT SUBCOMMANDS:
6 Scroll up.
° Scroll down.
lineno Delete line “iineno”.
*DELETE Backspace and erase.
*HOME Move cursor to line 0.
*RUBOUT Backspace and erase
Forward-space cursor
Backspace cursor
ISORS AND MARKERS
‘Current program line marker
Function prompter
Graphics prompter
Keyword prompter
Dataicharacter prompter
Syntax error marker.
X80 ONLY
FUNCTION
CHRS (num)
*LEN (string)
STRS (num)
*TLS (string)
setring (In1| (TOlIn2)
‘ABS (num)
CODE (string)
INT (rum)
*RIND
SAND (num)
RIND (0)
*SGN (num)
*VAL (String)
BASIC FUNCTIONS, ‘2X81 ONLY
CHARACTER/STRING FUNCTIONS.
Character whose decimal value is num
("A" = 38)
Length of string
Character string of num
String without the first character.
Substr of string trom pos. nt to n2
NUMERIC FUNCTIONS
Absolute value of number (~3.25 = 3.25)
Decimal value of first char in string
Nearest whole number after rounding down
(25 = 2)(-25 = ~3)
Random number between 0 and 1
Random number between 0 and num +1.
1
0 (Zero), 1 (Positive), ~ 1 (Negative)
Number extracted trom character string
__MATH FUNCTIONS
* ACS (num)
* ASN (num)
* ATN (num)
*COS (angle)
*EXP (num)
*LN (num)
*PI
*SIN (angle)
*SQR (num)
*TAN (angle)
‘Angle whose cosine is num, in radians.
Angla whose sine is num, in radians.
‘Angle whose tangent is num, in radians.
Cosine of angle radians.
Inverse LN of num.
Natural logarithm of num.
(Base 271828 1828)
314159265
Sine of angle radians
Square root of num.
Tangent of angle radians.
Radians = Degrees/57 29577951
Degrees = Radians «57.29577951
WO AND OTHER FUNCTIONS
*INKEYS.
PEEK (addr)
USR (addr)
‘Character value of key pressed on keyboard.
Decimal value of byte at location “addr”
Branch to machine language rtn at “addr”
PARENS IN FUNCTIONS ABOVE ARE OPTIONAL IN MOST CASES
DERIVED FUNCTIONS (X Is In radians.)
FUNCTION
EXPRESSION
CORR)
1181NO),
1/TANOO
INVERSE
‘ATNGISGA(-X*x + 1))
ATNOCISQR(-KeX + 1)) + 1.570796
ATN(SOR(X#xX — 1)) + (SGNOO ~1) +1.570796
ATN(1/SQR(X*X -1)) + (SGN(X) -1)+1.570796
ATN(X) + 1.570796
HYPERBOLIC
(EXPE) ~ EXR(—¥/2
(EXPO) + EXP(—X))/2
~EXP(—X)/(EXP(X) + EXP(—X))¢2 + 1
2i(EXPOX) + EXP(-*))
Q(EXPIX) — EXP(-X))
EXP(—1)/(EXPQQ) ~ EXP(-X))#2 +1
INVERSE HYPERBOLIC
COTANGENT
UN 0+ SaRGK-x + D)
LN (X + SQR(X*x — 1))
EN (430/41 —30)/2
LN ((SQR(-X*X + 1) + 1)/X)
LN ((SGN(X)*SQRX*X + 1) + 1)/X)
LN (OC + AK = 2
‘ADDRESS
OECIMAL
2X81 MEMORY MAP
DESCRIPTION
MONITOR ROM
NOTHING (USED FOR ROM IN SOME
ADD-ON DEVICES)
ERROR-CODE MINUS ONE.
BASIC SYSTEM CONTROL FLAG BITS
ADDR OF NEXT INSTR AFTER
RETURN™ING
ADDR OF LAST AVAIL BASIC BYTE +1
CURSOR MODE -™, i, °, OR i.
CURRENT BASIC STMT NUMBER.
ROM VERSION CODE (0 = 8K)
BASIC STMT NUMBER AT ) CURSOR.
|" ADDRESS OF SCREEN.
ADDRESS OF NEXT SCREEN PRINT POS.
"ADDRESS OF PROGRAM VARIABLES
ADORESS OF ASSIGNMENT VARIABLE
ADDR OF WORKING STORAGE
(KEY INPUT)
ADDR OF BYTE AFTER PEEK OR POKE
ADDRESS OF MARK MINUS ONE.
ADDRESS OF MATH CALC STACK
ADDR OF END OF MATH CALC STACK
B-REGISTER OF CALCULATOR
ADDRESS OF CALCULATOR MEMORY
NOT USED
NUMBER OF LOWER-SCREEN LINES.
NUMBER OF FIRST BASIC STMT ON
SCREEN.
LAST KEY PRESSED.
KEYBOARD DEBOUNCE STATUS
NUMBER OF BLANK LINES ABOVE AND
BELOW MOVING GRAPHICS.
ADDR OF NEXT BASIC STMT LINE.
NUMBER OF STMT TO “CONT"INUE AT.
SYSTEM FLAG BITS.
STRING-TYPE LENGTH IN ASSIGNMENT
ADDR OF NEXT SYNTAX TABLE ENTRY
RANDOM NUMBER SEED.
SCREEN FRAME DISPLAY COUNT.
LAST “PLOT” X-COORDINATE.
LAST “PLOT” Y-COORDINATE.
LSB OF ADOR OF NEXT “LPRINT”
POSITION.
‘PRINT’ COLUMN NUMBER.
PRINT” LINE NUMBER.
INTERNAL FLAG BITS
PRINTER BUFFER,
CALCULATOR AUXILIARY MEMORY AREA
NOT USED.
USER PROGRAM AREA.
END OF 1K SYSTEMS
END OF 2K SYSTEMS
END OF 16K SYSTEMS
* = DO NOT POKE UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS
‘Addr 16393 (4009H) thru 16506 (407BH) are always SAVEd with the
program
Published 1982 by Nanos Systems Corp., P.O. Box 24344, Speedway, IN 46224 (317)244-4078.
Printed in U.S.A.
=10—
FOR SALE: Attention T/S 1909 users groups! I have for sale my complete ey
collection of T/S 1099 hardware and software including a workable robotic project
with full documentation and all printed material. Yould like to sell all
inventory listed below for best offer plus shipping, but will split 30
days after this ad is published.
Robotic body includes:
-2) 22 RPM 12V. gear head motors
~Speed control crt.
~I/O0 relay bd.
-Budget robotics ext. bd.
~Impact sensor skin
-On bd. tape player
~Mech. arm with 4 freedoms of movement
-Sensor turret/stepper motor
-Polaroid's ultrasonic ranging system
-Power supply bd.
-Misc. hardware and software support
-20" x 24" x 19"= Runs on 12V battery
Support Hardware for Robotics Project:
- 1) Full cased T/S 1990 with 64K RAM, re-set and numeric key pads, fully
legend, less cables and P.S,
-1) T/S 1999 with Gladstone 64 K RAM, all cables, P.S., manual, in plastic carry
case.
-2) T/S 199 boxed complete but missing P.S.
-1) T/S 2949 printer boxed complete
-1) T/S 1916 RAM pack
-1) DCP speech pack with all 4 SSR chips. 273 word vocabulary, also works on 2968,
7X81, 2X spectrum,
-1) 3K Improved ROM for T/S 1990 by Frank Davis
-1) Timex Modem Bd, Tested and cabled
-6) Timex Modem Bd. only Untested
-1) T/S 199% store demo ROM bd.
-2) T/S 1909 case only (No Computer)
~2) TI-99 key pads
-1) 12V stepper motor
Books & Magazines:
-How To Build A Computer Controlled Robot by Tod Loofbourrow
-Build Your Own Working Robot by David L Heiserman
~Build A Micro Computer-Controlled Robot by B C Taylor
19 Issues Syntax-5/83 to 12/84
2 issues Syntax Ouaterly- Vol 2: 1 & 2
17 Issues Time Nesigns- Jan 86 to Oct 88
Over 29 cassette tapes of software including robotic support, M-Coder and games.
Mazogs anyone?
Please call me at the following phone numbers with any offer! Thank You!
James A Bretz
861 5th Ave SW
Perham, MN 56573
218-346-4761 DAY
218-346-2129 NIGHT
RMG
ENTERPRISES
Supports
Sinclair / Timex
Users!
Send legal 3.4.3.E. with request for price
sheet. Specify model interest. Send $4 for
GIANT GIFT catalog. (includes ALL price
lists?) Phone or FAX for information on
prices and availability.
Mail to:
14784 South Quail Grove Circle
Oregon City, OR 97045
500/655-7484 * FAX 509/655-4116
BILL PEDERSEN'S DISKSPEED
PROGRAM.
I had Bill’s program te check
disk speed using the T/S 2068
but I had it only for the Gliger
SAFEDOS and it would not work
with the Larken LKDOS. In August
at the Dayton Computerfest Bill
worked with me to try to convert
it so it would work with Larken
but he could not remember off
the top of his head what the out
port was for the Larken. For
various reasons I did not get
the information after Bill
returned to his home.
Tonight @2 21 1993 I decided to
use the notes that I had used
with Bill at the Fest before I
lost them again. And while I did
not understand what I was doing
I did get it to work. These are
the notes that I took —- = and
since my handwriting is bad I
did refer to the Character Set
in the the T/S 2868 manual to
verify what I had wrote down:
Program LINE 101
33 1d A1,NN
72 id c,b 72,156
1 ld bc,NN 143,@
62 1d a,N 208
237,121 bit 7 c
16 djinz DIS -2
205 call NN 56,156)
205. call NN 56,156
48. jr nc,DIS)-5
205 call NN 51,156
48 ir nce,DIs -5
205 call NN 51,156
5é jr c,DIS -S
115) Iid(hl),e
35 inc hl
114° Id(hl),d
35 inc hl
193 pop be
16 djnz DIS
251 ei
201 ret
Program LINE 182
6 id b,N L
16 dinz DIS -2
19 inc de
62 id a.N 127
2i? in a,N 254
Here is where I have:
out 16, 208
in 16
The 254 following 219 needs to
be changed to 253 for the
program to work on the Larken
L«DOS. Bill had given 16 and
that did not work.
So I started POKEing blind and
changed the 16 to is and
decreasing and got back to 12
and decided that maybe it should
be at the high end. So I worked
that end. 255 didn’t work but
253 did. I don’t know why 254
doesn’t work nor why 253 does.
For those that do not have a
copy of the program here it is:
5S RESTORE 101: FOR n=39936 TO
40807: READ w: POKE n,w: NEXT 7
101 DATA 243,33,72,156,1,143,9,
62,208, 237,121,16,-2,205, 56,156,
205,56,156,48,-5,205,56,156,56,-
5,6,8,197,17,0,0,205,51,156,48,-
5,205,51,156,56,-5,115,35,114,35
2193,16,-21,251,2@1
102 DATA 6,1,16,-2,19,62,127,21
9,254,246,224,60,40,2,207,20,237
,120,31,31,201,0,0,8,8,0,8,0,8,0
:2,0,8,0,8,8,0
5@@ CLS : PRINT "
TESTING SERVICES
D MEASUREMENT", ""
52@ PRINT ‘" The drive you se
lect will be tested for acceler
ation and sustained speed."’
eH Before proceeding, place a
disk in your selected drive an
d close its door."
53@ INPUT "Which drive? (@ TO 3
) "5w
531 OUT 183,@: PAUSE 6@: OUT 18
3,2°W: QUT 143,@
532 LET w=USR 39936
533 INK 1: PLOT 100,81: DRAW 15
@,@: PLOT 100,72: DRAW 150,Q: pl
OT 108,63: DRAW 15@,@: INK @
534 PRINT °" Turn RPM": ON ERR
GO TO 546: FOR n=4@008 TO 40023
STEP 2: LET w=PEEK n+Z56xPEEK (
n+l)
S35 LET wS=STRS (1605808/w)
KXKKKKKNOTE ! LINE S535 is in
ENVerse mode . OOO OIC OOK IOI CK K
S36 IF LEN w$>6 THEN LET w$=w(
TO 6)
537 PRINT
$
WIDJUP DISK
DISK SPEE
“3N/2-20003;" “aw
INK 1: PLOT Gk (n-39994),70+
(VAL w$-383): DRAW 2,9: DRAW
DRAW -4,@: DRAW @,-4: DRAW
« &
ON ERR RESET
oy PRESS ANY KEY
"; PAUSE 2: GO TO
SAVE //"DISKSPEED"
LINE 2
I tried to type this in
accurately but if it doesn’t
work you can break the program
at the first command by entering
a letter at the DRIVE? prompt.
If all else fails send me a SASE
and I will send a LLISTing-
Please specify which version you
want.
Bill said this will work with
any disk interface that has a
1778 disk controller on the
board. It should
therefore work with the FDD disk
drives (Zebra disk interface)
but you will have to configure
it yourself. The above should be
a clue to how to do it.
interface
called me in
that Bill
had passed away I was shocked
and felt much sadness. In spite
of Bill’s disabilities he did a
lot for the T/S 2@68 and
still working on a lot of future
projects.
NOTICE FROM ELIAD TO ALL:
When Frank Davis
January to inform me
was
| hope to be able to make it for at
least a few hours to the upcoming Dayton
Compute rest this year. At least for part of
one day.! hope to meet many of our
readers there at the show. Remember that
it is the last weekend of August and is the
largest club produced computer show in
the Midwest.! Know that there willbe a
Sinclair section again.
TIPS AND SMALL ITEMS
by Eliad P. Wannum
Every now and then we have short bytes of
information that do not fill a page and try to
put several of them together. Herein my good
trends is such an animal.
Rememberthe WOTRAX TYPE’N TALK tor
the TS computers? Al Green tells us that this
speech synthesizer, which used LPRINT
commands to output speech, was taken over
by the company: Vysion Ine., 30777
Schoolcraft, Livonia, Michigan 48150-2010.
Al algo says you can use a Radio Shack C GP-
115C olor Graphic Printer with the TS2068. It
has a serial and parallel ports on it which
mace it work for him on the Aerce and the
sernal port on the Zebra disk drives. No special
interface needed.
From Basil Wentworth we heard the following:
Thanks for your artic'e on POKEs in the
January 1993 issue. One thing has me
stumped, though. On page 15, pgh (24) says
to use OPEN #2 in order to get hard copy. |
can’t get my 2068 to accept the command.
CLOSE #2 works perfectly. Any suggestions?
There is a rather cumbersome way, of course,
to getthe same result: write every PRINT
statement in the form PRINT #4;
Fin in Oe and LET A=2 or 3,
according to whether screen or hard copy is
wanted.
Another byte of information trom Basil
Wentworth is: “Here's an optical illusion for
you on the TS 2068. Run this program and you
will see a sort of propellentike figure, moving.
The illusion is az follows: are the left and right
sides of the figure moving up and down, or
are the top and bottom sliding trom side to
side? Blink your eyes # couple of times to shit
your perception from one side to the other.
Line 510 lets you exit from the program by
pressing "ENTER".| hope it doesn’t drive you
completely nuts.”
500 BORDER 0: PAPER 0: CLS: INK ?:
PRINT AT 10,15; FLASH 1; CHA$ 134;
FLASH O
510 INK 0: BORDER 7: PAPER ?
14
Mr. Frank Davis 7/16/92
Editor UPDATE!
513 E. Main St.
Peru, IN 46970
Dear Frank,
I'm pooped! After many hours at the keyboard, and swearing
at myself for clumsy goofs, the "fabled" TIMEX BEU has its start
in the ROM BYPASS BOARD. This board will do the job but requires
bringing the ROMCS signal out to A5. Later, I want to revise it
to work without touching a screw. Time forces me to compromise.
Board “A" is an extender except for BE signal interruption.
It hosts two dedicated circuit boards.
Board "B" carries the bypass memory in the form of battery
backed static RAM. This includes 32k of EXROM, though another 32k
is available as volatile memory to make a total of 64k! I have
the code patches necessary to let the 2068 recognize this extra
available memory.
Board "C" is the Expansion Bus Driver. Though a TIMEX type
bus is a little simpler, going to the IBM AT bus is more practical
because of the many bargain devices available for it. Some may
point out that the bus frequency is different, not knowing that
bus frequency variants already exist with no trouble. Some may
argue that some signals are incorrectly used, forgetting that
those signals address a motherboard that isn't there!
Reminiscing is nice. Remember Computer Trader Magazine?
Here is a 3-d logo I did for him. Notice the tricky way that only
the "T" is opaque. I have a graphics wire-frame program that lets
you display anything you want in these windows. Its default is
the three great pyramids of Egypt with Carmen Sandiego having
stolen the SPHYNX. Only a flat runway remains.
I need working boards to repair the TIMEX system to what it
was. Only then will it be possible to use the crippled DOS
commands as intended. I think John Oliger will jump at the chance
to relocate his system into EXROM, where no illegal commands are
needed to access it. All that nice buffer space could make his
mouth water. There should be some constraints, however, so that
future improvements are not blockaded. One of these is letting
the system grow directory trees. Another is to provide 16 bit FAT
table entries while keeping the ability to read disks of any
format. Then, a hard disk will have the same parameters as most
floppies. Command syntax would be identical.
The disks (IBM 360k) are .PCX files for the job. JI cropped
and sized four 1x etching masks so you can print them out on your
ink-jet at 369 dots per inch using transparencies. The 2x paper
masters included are 189 dpi.
In Dayton, if I'm lucky, I could demonstrate booting SPECTRUM
into the 2668 on demand, and back out -- maybe a bit more than
that if I get my new EXROM code debugged.
ZZZ222Z2.....
15
TS52068
|
KOM Bypass Schematic.
Exon PASSIVE
Hone PASSIVE
Sir
2708
oof ne
ACTIVE 1N91474148
Gap ee Le sve
ExRon AKAD
1B
47%.
47m
Horie WRITE
1D
HOHE READ
aE
EMABLED
DEAF
ENABLED |
ENABLED
EEEEE EERE
supe
ROM BYPASS BOARD "A" ASSY RBP-A 7/92
ROM BACK~PLANE
BYPASS DRIVER
BOARD "B" BOARD ee
t ConnECTORS
PW 7OB119. a1
TS2068
REAR <— —— > ACCESSORIES
CONNECTOR
ROM BYPASS BOARD "A" ASSY RBP-A 7/92
P/N 700119.01
COMPONENT SIDE =
egcase
SHRORRSwCOnonr®uonee
Heavgegeas
ROM BYPASS BOARD "A"
9 C)
mf
oe
SOLDER SIDE
ASSY RBP-A 7/92
P/N 700119.01
e
0,
SCHOSHOHOOHOHESOOOOOOOHOOOOOOEES
bO'EHLOOZ Nid
28/L W-d@d ASSV
aup—" ele
WANT ADS FOR APRIL 1994 (free to all subscribers)
1) FOR SALE: CLIP ART for the QL, imported from IBM, MAC and AMIGA
computers to the QL. Ten disk set at $5 a 3 1/2 DSDD disk, or all ten
for $40. This covers all types of clip art that can be used in your
art or DTP programs. They can be used with Text’N’Grafix, LINEdesign,
Professional Publisher, Page Designer 3, etc. Send check or money
order to: Frank Davis, 513 East Main St., Peru, IN 46970.
2) FOR SALE: From Al Feng, PLATYPUS Software, 914 Rio Vista Circle SW,
Albuquerque, NM 87105 PH 505 843-8414.
MIRACLE 512K EXPANDERAM : wee. $60.
MIRACLE DISK CARD w/ FLP/RAM (no memory)..... oS Sib :8de 89 8D 5
Both for $125. Includes "free" copy of QLUSTer and QLuMSi.
Olivetti PR2300 w/ extra ampules.........-eeeeeeee eaeS556
w/MIRACLE 512K EXPANDERAM & DISK CARD...........-$165.
286-10 w/640K motherboard (no documentation)..........$50.
ST-4096 MFM harddrive (80 mb)
w/16 bit i:1 controller Siaieisteesie os $200.
w/286-10 motherboard (above)...... bie tAGeS eeew se oe2oe
3) DELTA-DISK Interface with parallel printer port for the QL allows
you to have a disk interface and use a parallel printer at a low cost,
for only $60 from: Paul Holmgren, 5231 Wilton Wood Court,
Indianapolis, IN 46254
PH 317-291-6002.
4)HELP WANTED: Many of you will have noticed Al Feng’s DooDah front
end program for the ZIPed files on the QL. He has asked us (due to
time constraints) to have someone incorporate zip.exe, by amending the
DooDah.BAS program and sending it in. Would someone please tackle this
for us here at UPDATE! Magazine?
5) PRINT FACTORY on DISK for the TS2068 Larken and Oliger disk
interfaces. This is for those of you who own the tape version and want
to have it on disk, send $5. For those who have ordered it long ago
and never received it, please contact me on this; you should get what
you ordered. Frank Davis, c/o UPDATE Magazine, P.O. Box 1095, Peru, IN
46970. We can also supply for those who want them the Lemke Pixel
Print DTP program on disk with manual for $10 (this is in the public
domain, the charge is for copying, manual and postage).
6) FOR SALE: TS2050 Modem for $35; ROTRONICS Wafadrive (2 stringy
floppy tape drives that are fast and can give over 128K max on the
large tapes per drive), a parallel and a serial port for your Spectrum
emulated TS2068 or Spectrum. You need to have a twister board on your
TS to use this. I will throw in lots of tapes of various sizes, plus
programs on wafer, all for $60 and this includes postage. Send to
Eliad Wannum, c/o Update Magazine, P O Box 1095, Peru, IN 46970 and
they will get your order to me.
20
MIRACLE IN NEWPORT TWO AND OTHER STUFF
by Frank W. Davis
First of all the other stuff. Sometimes in the Sinclair computer
users community there is so..so..much going on that I need to make
notes so I can keep the rest of you informed. Why do I try to keep all
of you informed? Well, for everyone of you that is well connected up
and in personal touch with all of the worldwide dealers and
programmers, there are at least three people who are not. This comes
in various degrees as to how much of all the new stuff you would ever
even hear about if it were not for UPDATE, IQLR, TSNUG quarterly and
the user group and club newsletters. That is a large part, if not the
only reason to be for these publications.
You QL users will notice in this issue that we have a new program
by Al Feng. It is a very good program, and Al is trying to keep up to
date on new developments in hardware to keep his programs useful. He
supports his own work. His address is in the article and he is willing
to answer questions and listen to suggestions. How about taking some
time to show him we appreciate his work. I do. This is a new issue
disk and goes for the usual $20. It is called QLAMBer.
We have an ad in this issue for the 1994 Dayton Computerfest.
This is the show that also supports the TS1000, TS2068, Spectrum, 288,
as well as the QL. There will not be a show in Toronto this year. I
wish there was. I used to live in Toronto, and have many fond memories
of the time spent there. This, so far, leaves us with Dayton as our
best chance to get together on a large scale basis. I hope to see more
of you there than ever before. Let us show the rest of the computer
users we are still kicking. This means let me know what I can do to
get all of you to make plans now to be there. Carol and I will once
again be at the Red Roof Inn North in Dayton, last weekend in August.
We will soon have a second edition of the 288 Source Book, thanks
to the work of Tim Swenson, and some assistance in DTP by a great new
acquaintance of ours named, just, Crosby. I will probably have copies
of it available at the Miracle in Newport for those wanting to get it,
and of course by mail. I have not seen it yet, but Crosby tells me it
is even better than the first (else, why put out a second edition).
Now for some information on the 2nd Miracle in Newport. The
location has been changed, due to the fact that we could not get the
Salvation Army Building for the time span we wanted, as they had a
partial prior commitment. The show will now be held at the Howard
Johnson Lodge, 351 West Main Road (the main road into Newport),
Middletown, RI 02840. Their telephone number is 401-849-2000. It will
be held on Saturday, the 14th of May 1994, and will run from 10 A.M.
till 6 P.M.. The vendors will have access to the Meeting Room at 8
A.M., which should resolve one of my major gripes of last year, trying
to set up tables to sell while everyone else is coming into the place
at the same time. It just does not work, even with the best of
friends.
21
Many of the guests for this show, myself included will be staying
over at the Motel 6, 249 Connell Highway, Newport, RI 02840. The phone
number is 401-848-0600. If you make a reservation there tell them you
are with the IQLR group. They appear to have given us a special rate
of $38.07 for singles and $42.55 for doubles, and this includes tax.
This is per day. Carol and I will be staying through at least Monday
after the show, so that we can get a chance to sample some of the
sights and good restaurants on Rhode Island and Cape Cod. Feel free to
join in with us. Newport is also quite famous for its jazz bars and
festival.
On the Saturday after the show there will be a Dutch treat dinner
at the Newport Beach Club once again. I found this to be a nice
restaurant last year with good food. This dinner will start at 7:30
P.M. Saturday. Don’t start without me as I will have to close up after
the show in order to join you. You can get directions from others at
the show as to how to find this fine restaurant. The service and food
last year was good enough that many of us asked to have the dinner
there again. It is not a fast food restaurant, so expect to spend a
modest amount for the meal.
Bob Dyl and IQLR also tell me that there will be a Sunday Brunch
on the 15th at the Motel 6 starting at 9 A.M. Coffee and doughnuts
will be served. Those wanting a complete breakfast before this time
join me in the lobby by 7 A.M. and we will be back in time for the
Brunch. This will give all of us more time to mingle and ask
questions and share experiences with each other, as well as the
dealers from Europe.
Those of you wishing to register for this event in advance should
contact Bob Dyl with $5 per person, as it will cost you $7 at the
door. Those wishing to get a table for this event should shell out $25
per table in advance or $30 at the door. He says the tables are either
6 or 8 feet, so bear in mind the tables are not very large. There
seems no way around this as they are supplied by the motel. There is
no admission charge for the dealers.
If you should have any questions about the show then give a call
to Bob Dyl at 401-849-3805. He will be more than happy to help you. He
can even tell you about the several new products and demos planned for
the show. There are many chances to learn at this show and to see new
technological advances for the QL and get some of your long unanswered
questions answered. I may even get a few of mine answered.
If there is a particular software or hardware item you may wish to
purchase from Paul Holmgren or myself, give us a call in advance of
the show so that we can be sure to bring it with us. There is just so
much that we seldom bring everything. Paul Holmgren and Tim Swenson
will be arriving on Friday with his van loaded with QL goodies (they
kind of sound like Santa Claus in May) and Carol and I will not be far
behind. I hope to see most of those I met last year as well as a few
dozen or more new faces.
See you at the show. And later in the year at the Dayton show.
22
913-223-FE
VENDOR INFORMATION
Register now for your booth(s) at the 18th annual Computerfest®, August 27 and 28, at Hara Conference and Exhibition Center, Dayton Ohio
Computerfest® is the largest and longest running computer show in the Midwest. The past few years have seen tremendous growth in both
vendors and attendees Computerfest® 92 drew over 27,500 people, nearly double that of 1991 And in 1993 over 33,500 persons attended this
cagerly awaited annual event, Early registration will secure the space you want This year we are expanding both the Commercial Sales area
and the Manufacturers Showcase area where the latest products are demonstrated The Manufactures Showcase will be a non-sales area,
MANUFACTURERS PREMIUM COMMERCIAL REGULAR COMMERCIAL
SHOWCASE (non-sales only) BOOTHS (wood floor area) BOOTHS (East Hall)
$300.00 until June 30, 1994 $200.00 until June 30, 1994 $100.00 until June 30, 1994
$350.00 July 1, 1994 thereafter $250.00 July 1, 1994 thereafter $200.00 July 1, 1994 thereafter
includes: includes: includes:
10' x10! carpeted booth, two draped 10' x 10' booth, with two draped tables, | 10’ x 10' booth, with two draped tables,
tables, 2 chairs, backdrop, sign, and 2 2 chairs, and backdrop, sign, and 2 2 chairs, and backdrop, sign, and 2
admission tickets per booth. Friday admission tickets per booth. Friday admission tickets per booth. Friday
night setup available at no extra cost. night setup available at no extra cost. night setup available at no extra cost.
LIMITED FLEA MARKET SPACE
$30.00 after May 1 $50.00 after July 1
8 X6’space one8‘table — one chair ADMISSION EXTRA (must be purchased in advance)
Friday night setup EXTRA Limit of 4 spaces total per vendor
All booths and spaces have electricity (120 VAC) provided at no extra charge. Security provided during setup, and duration of
show at no extra charge. Exhibitor shall obtain at its own expense adequate insurance against injury, loss, or damage.
To reserve your space(s) at Computerfest® 94 complete the Vendor Registration form on the next page
and return with your check in the correct amount for the space(s) and services, and mail to:
Bob Kwater Vendor Relations
1641 Bledsoe Dr.
Bellbrook OH 45305-1350
LATE BREAKING NEWS FROM
MECHANICAL AFFINITY
FRANK DAVIS PAUL HOLMGREN
313 EAST MAIN ST 9231 WILTON WOOD CT
PERU, IN 46978 INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46254
317-473-8831 317-291-6882
EXTRA! EXTRA! The Miracle Gold Card has been improved
upon. We now have the SUPER GOLD CARD from Miracle. [t has all
of the great features of the original Gold Card, but with the
following changes:
t now has 4 Megs of RAM. a 68928 processor, runs 3.
times faster than the original Gold Card, has two double disk
drive ports so you can use 4+ floppy drives with it, and to top
it off it comes with a built in parallel printer Ccentronics>
interface. We throw in for free a parallel printer cable! Other
improvements are a socket to optionally connect SV, and a
virtually crash-proof clock Csome rare events could on occasion
crash the orignal Gold Cards clock>, and comes with our TWO
YEAR WARRANTY.
We have a trade in program for those wishing to do so.
The price for the new Super Gold Card is $475, and of course
includes all shipping and handling. You can trade in a full
working original Gold Card for a credit of $158; or trade in a
fully functional 696K Trump card for a credit of $75.
We will of course be lowering our price on the original
Gold Card to $388 for new ones; 5225 for used ones “when in
stock, with new eproms and manuals>, and keeping our price for
used Trump Cards at *188; while offering Trump Cards with the
Level 2 RUM upgrade Cmany improvements in Specs ssub-—
directories, Atari/IBM_disk read write> at SIH8.
t else is new? We plan on soon of fering IDE Hard Drive
Interfaces from the UK, just as soon as the software is
finished; as well as continuing to offer the J. Falkenberg Hard
Drive Interface for MFM and RL hard drives Ccheck with me on
these as we have lowered the prices and sweetened the deal,
Frank>. We also have some MFM hard drives in stock as well as
cables for_them. We now offer all the software from ERAGON of
Italy and SPEM hardware from Italy as well.
Now for a few questions to you the readers of UPDATE!
and the customers of Mechanical Affinity. We feel that we have
done a better than average job of making available to North and
South America the vast majority of the hardware and software
from all over the world for the QL. We ask for your support
in this matter so that we can continue to do so and even
expand. Do those of you with TS2068s and Spectrums want us to
do some of the same for Spectrum hardware and software for
you? Do you want us to enlarge our offerings of items from
his hemisphere for these machines’? Will you help us make it
worth our while to do so?
Every business has to rely on customers to stay in the
business. This means having for sale products that people are
willing to pay a fair price for. | have had folks tell me of
items they would like to offer for the TS2868 and the 288
here in the Americas, but were unsure of whether it was worth
the effort. Write or call and tell us your views.
24
OoggogoQooboboobogooOoOo82ooQoOgIoOo0bOooONIoOoOoOgobb020202000
QL SURVIVORS SOURCE BOOK
2ND EDITION -- This book contains worldwide lists of all QL BOOKS; PERIODICALS;
BULLETIN BOARDS; USER GROUPS; HARDWARE and SOFTWARE DEALERS; PUBLIG
DOMAIN and SHAREWARE SUPPLIERS. Nowhere else can you find all of this data in
one easy to use source. This is a work of art by the same great folks that brought you
IQLR, and offered by UPDATE Magazine. When we sell out of current stock it will be gone.
Itis now available for only $10.00 US$, and this now includes all postage and handling in
the North and South American areas. Order now and it will be shipped to you by either
First Class Mailor Priority Mail; no more waiting around for siow UPS delivery! Whatever
it is you are looking to buy for your QL, this will tell you where to look for it, along with
phone and fax numbers, as well as addresses.
QOO00OOOOOOOOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoQOOoOoOooOo0OOoOoIoob0000002
288 SOURCE BOOK
This book was compiled by Tim Swenson and published by UPDATE Magazine, and was
designed to be a good and concise reference book on the Z88; how to interface it with the
rest of the worlds computers; what products are available for it and where to find them. It
will not replace your Z88 user guide, but will instead supplement it, and fill in areas that
were missing by putting all this information in one easy to use book. When you order it we
also include a disk of utilities and programs that are discussed in the book. This is
available in the following formats: QL in 3 1/2 1440 or 2880 sector disks; QL in 5 144 720 or
1440 sector disks; IBM360K § 1/4 disks; IBM 720K 5 1/4 disks; IBM 720K 3 1/2 disks;
IBM 1.4 meg 3 1/2 disks. Please let us know with your order which type and size of disk
you need. The price for all of this is $7.00 US§, which includes P. & H. in North America,
and elsewhere $7.00 US$ plus $2.00 US$ for the additional postage we have to pay. We
will accept for foreign orders the cash equivalent, plus 10% for conversion, if you are
unable to obtain a money order or travelers check in US$. We want to make this
information widely available, so we are trying to be as flexible as possible.
QoonooooooooONooNoOoOoo8ooooo0bo00oOo0O0O000000002
DooDah Correction
by Al Feng
LINE 700 otf the DooDah_BAS listing should be amended to ensure that
the program does not come back with an error message.
700 If K<c THEN
EXEC_W flp]_unzip;""&tSawsa"_"6&21P$(1 to LEN(ZIP$)-4)
where flpl_ is the location of the unzip file.
If you have enough memory, you can load the unzip file from a ram8_,
for example. If you have dynamic ram disking (on most MIRACLE disk
interfaces), then add this LINE to the program:
145 COPY flpl_unzip to ram8_unzip: DLINE 145
and, then indicate in LINE 700 to "“EXEC_W ram8_unzip; ..." This
will, essentially, make the unzip code "resident" in your computer's
memory.
Of course, if you are using Unzip30, use the appropriate filename or
RENAME accordingly.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
HAPPY TRAILS,
AND COMPUTING, TO YOU
SESEKEKKEKSSSKASKEKESSSSSSSRELTAT SATS SATAHSKSSSESSSSHS SHS SSKES ESSE ERE ESTES
2
*
*
*
+
*
COMPUTER CLASSICS
*%* FOR SALE *#¢#
COMPUTER CLASSICS
RT 1, BOX 117
CABOOL, MO 65689
IBM XT COMPUTER $200 +shipping
Includes 10 MEG hard drive, 640K
RAM, 360K floppy, serial port and
parallel port, monochrome monitor,
and keyboard.
Repair Service for America’s
Favorite Home Computers
and their accessories
IBM 286 COMPUTER $350 +shipping
ADAN ATARI COMMODORE Includes 20 MEG hard drive, 1MB
serial & parallel ports, keyboard,
and monochrome monitor.
IBM OSBORNE SINCLAIR
TIMEX TI TRS-80
*
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QUAD DENSITY 5 1/4 in. (720K)
half height floppy drives
$25 each or 10 for $150
BUY - SELL - TRADE - UPGRADE
Write for prices
SASE appreciated IBM HARD DRIVES, CONTROLLERS,
and RGB COLOR MONITORS
Write for prices
HHH RHR HEHEHE HH RO
*
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RAM, 1.2NB & 1.44MB floppies, *
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Ph. (417) 469 - 4571 *
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FREESE EEEEE EES EE ESSER HSS SEE SET ER ESE SETHE ESTEE ESSE ETE SE SAE STERS ESE EEEEESE
Psst! Looking for more Programs?? Cheap??
Here is a very small list of what can be found out there in the world for the QL if you have a modem and can calla BBS. For
those of you without a modem, think about it. There are several BBS's in the USA that cater to our line of computers.
There is also INTERNET. A world wide method of communicating via computer.
They offer programs and an opportunity to actively exchange electronic correspondence with other QL users.
These programs have all been uploaded somewhere out there for QL’ers to use.
ABAtra_exp Psions’ Abacus file format explained
ANSISR_zip strip ANSI codes from log files, uses TK2 and Qlib
BASCON_zip SB Extension for Linking in QUump Configuration Blocks
C68d1_zip C68 4.12 disk 1. 'C' forthe QL Main system disk, The current "STANDARD for ‘C™ on the QL
C68d2_zip C68 4.12 disk 2. 'C' forthe QL Extras, utilities, add. libs
C68d3_zip C68 4.12 disk 3. 'C’ forthe QL Master doc disk for C68
CFG_zip place QPTR configuration blocks into 'C’
CHECK_zip SB extension to check for (non) numeric INPUT
CIRCUL_zip Miscellaneous circuit diagrams and connector pin-outs
CRITMS_BAS Critical Mass Game (1 or 2 players) from Dec. 88 QL World
DISKS_TXT Text file describing using Teac 2.88Mb disk drives
DJEP_zip DeskJet printer utility, prints envelopes
DJWDEM_zip Demo copies; DiscOVER, MULTI-DiscOVER, TexTIDY & FLPClone
EMAIL_txt Known INTERNET addresses of other QLers
FILEIN_zip Pointer environment utility
FNTSRC_zip source files (SB and Metacomco Assembler) FontEditor v.2.3
FONTED_zip QL FontEcitor v.2.3 for the Sinclair QL
HDRRST_bas needed to restore file header of some transferred files
HISTDV_zip Last line recallhistory device for QL jobs
!BMDSK_zip Lets QL with TK 2 and 3.5 inch drives access IBM disks
LHQ_zip LHQ v1.0 for the QL. Another file archiver and extractor
MAIL_zip mail list program for ARCHIVE
Minnie_zip Text file detailing the Minerva ROM 1.93+ features
MODPSI_zip Some mods for the PSION suite of software
POINT_zip Description of setting up as QL FidoNet Echo Point
PullDown_zip This is a method of creating PULL-DOWN/POP-UP screens
QED_zip QED 1.01 A general purpose editor for the QL
QEM_zip first? version of QeM
QEM24_zip QEM v2.4. early version of QEM
QEMV32_zip QEM v3.2 An excellent terminal program for the QL
QEM35U_zip QEM v3.5 upgrade files. upgrade QEM 3.0+ to 3.5
QEM36U_zip QEM v3.6 upgrade from v3.5
XPRLIB_zip XPR libraries for QEM v3.5, needed for 3.5& 3.6
QEM40_zip QEM v4.0 latest version of QEM?
QEM040doc_zip Doc files for QEM v4.0
XPR210_zip latest file transfer protocalls for QEM v4.0
QLGIF_zip Utilities to code and decode GIF files. by Carlo Delhez (1993)
QLHD_zip Information on hooking up an IBM type MFM/RLL hard drive to a QL.
QLIBRT_zip liberator runtimes version 3.36
QLSPIT_zip ’ ZM-1 Spectrum Emulator for the QL. working demo
QPACER_zip QPACER QPac2 Boot Generator issue 1.1
QSI_zip Determine speed of your QL, compared to QXL, Gold Card
QUADRI_zip Quadric Equation Plotter
QUILtra_exp Psions’ QUILL file format explained
RDS_zip 3 SuperBasic programs to make random dot stereograms on the QL
RELYQL_TXT A reliable QL! Text describing modifications to the QL
RESCUE_zip Floppy Disk Rescue & String Search Utility
Ruleta_zip Roulette game
SAVER_LZH Pointer environment screen saver. Set up as a hotkey
SPECTATR_zip Spectator v1.00 - A Spectrum emulator for the QL
SPECKE_zip 4 graphic files of the Spectrum Computer keyboard layout
VERS_zip determines program info about other QPTR progs.
VIEW_LZH Pointer environment utility
XCHANG_zip Psion’s QL Xchange v3.90 is now publicdomain (Quill, Archive, Abacus, Easal in one package)
ZXTRICA_zip Xtricator v1.10 - ZX81 emulator for the QL
UNZIP9_EXE QL UnZip program Ver 0.96. by Jan Bredenbeek, exe form (early version)
ZIP_22 Zip/Unzip version 2.2 for the QL. (revised)
ZIPUTIL_zip Zip Utilities v3.0. utilities for dealing with zip files
ZIP30_exe Zip version 3.0 for the QL. (The \"ES\" version) (revised, revised)
Unzip30 Unzip version 3.0 for the QL, latest one NEEDED FOR THESE FILES
Ziptxt_bt Revised Docs on using Zip/unzip programs (READ THIS if you have not used Zip on the QL yet)
FNxxx x_zip QL InterNational FidoNet Echo Mail messages, 8 merged files so far
Quanta1/2_zip QL Quanta BBS Messages from the UK, 2 merged files so far
Spectrum/QL related files for the PC/Clone
ENV_bin ENV_bin code compatable with QXL and SMSQ
JPP_zip Excellent Spectrum Emulator for 386SX or greater PC
Make_C_zip C68 files MAKE & CCP for the QXL
QDIR_zip Looks at QL disk DIRs on a PC
QLSCR_zip PC program to view QL screen files, can convert to GIF
QLTOOL_zip Lets a PC look/examine QL disk
QXLfmt_zip forthe QXL card. Convert a disk to QDOS format (same as FORMAT?)
280V201A_zip 128K/48K ZX Spectrum Emulator V2.01 by Gerton Lunter
Z80V201B_zip LATEX and POSTSCRIPT DOC files for V2.01 Z80 Spectrum
QL related file for the MAC.
CP2MC1_zip convert text/Quill files to be used on the MAC
‘These programs and files fill 9 720 disks and are available for $9.00 (postage paid) from:
Paul Holmgren
5231 Wilton Wood Ct.
Indianapolis, IN 46254
MECHANICAL
AFFINITY
515 EAST MAIN ST. OR 5251 WILTON WOOD CT
PERO IN 46970 INDIANAPOLIS IM 46254
S17 475 6051 517 291 GOO2
FRANK DAVIS PAUL HOLMGREN
We want to provide service to you the customer. Need something,
give us a call. Make all checks or money orders out to either "Frank
Davis" or "Paul Holmgren’, Thanks! Payment in US$.
Have you ever wondered about a program you have read about? We have a solution to that!
We have many programs available on disk that are demo. Usually they will have one or two
functions disabled, but give you enough to find out if the program is what you want. We have
:TEXT 87, PAGE DESIGNER 3, QUICK MANDELBROT SCREENS, QRACTAL SCREENS,
BANTER, IMAGE PROCESSOR, DISCOVER, TEXTTIDY, S-EDIT, THE GOPHER,
CONVERT PCX, THE ERGON DEMOS, FLEET TACTICAL COMMAND,
TEXT’N’GRAPHIX, WINBACK 2, ADDRESS BOOK & LABEL PRINTER, SCREEN
COMPRESSION. All of these are available on disk for $3 each...and if you decide to buy the
actual program, you can take this $3 off the full program price.
EXTRA! EXTRA! WE ARE NOW THE NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVE FOR
ALL THE ERGON, from Italy, PROGRAMS! We are also offering for sale the SUPER GOLD
CARD, and we havea trade- in program for working Trumps and Gold Cards.
810-254-9878
24 hours a day, 3007120072400 baud
(a new high speed modem, up to 14400 baud will be online soon)
QBox-USA is a BBS set up by QL enthusiasts For QL enthusiasts.
The sytem runs entirely on a Sinclair QL. We maintain a link (Fidonet>
with European BBS's that carry QL related message areas. With QBox-USA
North American QL users can keep in touch with our fellow QL users in Europe
and keep up with the Latest developments For the QL and QDOS.
We are currently carrying the Following message areas:
INTERNATIONAL QL, MINERVA, QUANTA and QBOX.
There are also File areas that contain many programs available For download.
Just a few of the Files available are: QUEI, QEAX, Zip-Unzip, QLIerm, QLGIF
and many more! There is no charge to use QBox-USA other than normal phone
call charges. Please give QBox-USA a try!
We look forward to your call!
proguces useng rage Hescener 3
29
CABLE COLUMN
By Bill Cable
ARCHIVE SERIES
PART 16 : A REVIEW - DESCRIBING HOW TO USE
SOME RECENTLY INTRODUCED PROCEDURES
The procedures listed last time when merged with our
previous procedures made a program, QUERY. It can be
used to interrogate any ARCHIVE database with its simple
standardized menu interlace. QUERY makes extensive
use of the recently introduced procedures. Perhaps now is
the time to describe how some of these procedures work.
{f you haven't had time to type them in yet or have been
stumped by ail that | have introduced so far now you have
time to catch up. Or to avoid the typing send me a
formatted disk and return postage and | will send you a
copy of query_prg or order the CABLE ARCHIVE ISSUE
DISK from UPDATE and you will get lots of ARCHIVE
goodies including query_prg.
In the PC World the user interface is all the rage now with
the introduction of Windows and OS2. Besides
multitasking (which they still can't do as good as QDOS)
their main claim to fame is the Graphical User Interface
(GUI). The most important aspect being a standardized
user interface. In my opinion the mouse is a totally
overblown device. In novice situations it is good and for
certain positioning tasks it is superior but as a general
device to choose options for experienced users of a
program it is cumbersome. The best method for choosing
options, | think, is to take advantage of the mind’s ability to
easily remember an option-character connection. If | want
to print something then pressing a P is much quicker and
faster than trying to move a little arrow to an arbitrary
place on the screen with a mouse. Programming in
ARCHIVE can't be too graphical but these procedures
standardize the user interface and work well with the
option-character method for selection options..
| would like to encourage you to try and make the Miracle
in Newport Il on Saturday, May 14. | will be there and it
would be nice to talk with readers of this column. | will be
demonstrating my QLerk program and will be looking
forward to visiting with fellow QLers and ARCHIVErs. The
QL has been given a new lease on life with the Miracle
GOLD CARD, QXL CARD, and now the SUPER GOLD
CARD. It has been especially nice for us ARCHIVE
programmers because although ARCHIVE is a nice
language for developing database applications it runs
somewhat slow on your basic MHZ QL. But when you
increase the speed of the QL by a factor of 12 like the
QXL CARD does ARCHIVE programs blaze across the
screen. Hope to see you at Newport.
PREPARATION
Start ARCHIVE in your customary way so you see the
ARCHIVE command prompt (>). What you need to type
will be in /talics and don't forget the <ENTER>. First we
load the procedures saved as query_prg.
load ‘Yquery"sENTER> where {} = device where
query_prg is (flp1_,mdv1_,etc)
Now set the screen and initialize needed variables
mode 0 setup<ENTER> always initialize setup first
You now have the procedures introduced in the last year
loaded. Below | will describe them and give examples that
ilustrate how they work. The examples will be given to the
ARCHIVE command prompt (>) but will activate
procedures we have loaded with query_prg.
When giving the procedure name there is often a
semicolon (;) followed by a list of variables separated by
commas(,). This is how procedures are activated (called).
The names of the variables following the procedure are
descriptive of what they do. What you actually include
when you call a procedure may be real numbers and literal
text in quotes or variable names depending on the
situation.
SIMPLE PROMPTS
Much of what | have tried to do so far is to introduce
procedures to standardize simple program interaction with
the user. The procedures in this category are :
acky;In,mess$ : Acknowledge procedure is used to get
the user to read a message (mess$) printed on the screen
at line In and press enter to continue. It does not return
anything. Example :
cls:acky; 10, We are done now"<ENTER>
defy;in,ques$,def$ : Default procedure asks the user a
question (ques$) at line In and suggests a default answer
(def$). The user presses <ENTER> to accept the
suggésted answer (def$) or \<ENTER> to give a null
answer or enters their own answer. The answer is
returned in lower case in global variable ans$. Example :
cls.defy; 12, "Your name", 'bill”"<ENTER>
answer defy prompt then print result
print ans$<ENTER>
inpy;in,ques$ : Input procedure asks the user a question
(ques$) at line In and waits for the answer to be entered.
The answer is return in lower case in global variable ans$.
Example :
cls-inpy; 12,"Your name"<ENTER>
answer inpy prompt then print result
print ans$<ENTER>
msg;inmess$ : Message procedure prints a message
{mess$) in brackets at line In. it returns nothing. Example :
cls.insg.20, “testing msg"<ENTER>
30
yom;in,ques$ Yes or No procedure asks the user a
question (ques$) that can only be answered by a yes or
no answer, The answer is returned in global variable ans$
which will either be “y* or “n". Example :
cls-yorn;12, "Are you ready"<ENTER>
answer yorn prompt then print result
print ans$SENTER>
SINGLE LINE PROMPT WITH MULTIPLE OPTIONS.
Often it can be handy to display multiple options on a
single line and allow the user to choose one option by
pressing a single key corresponding to the actual option
desired.
key_choice;In,mess1$,mess2$,options$,keys$ Key
choice procedure allows several options to be displayed
on a single line (option line) and the user can make the
choice by pressing a single key. If global variable ke=1
then an <ENTER> must also be pressed but if ke=0 then it
does not. When ke=1 Is set then set ke$=" KEY+ENTER "
(done already in setup) and if ke=0 then set ke$="PRESS
KEY ". This is a way to have a single procedure work in a
quick mode (ke=0) where no <ENTER> is needed or a
slower more friendly mode (ke=1) where <ENTER> needs
to be pressed before action happens. The message on the
line In appears as :
mess1$ + ke$ + mess2$ +"=>" + options$ +*:"
The list of acceptable keys are passed in the text variable
called keys$ above and need to be in lower case..
Suppose we wanted the user to answer a question about
a choice of colors we could use a call to key_choice :
cls-key_choice,; 14,"" "Color", "Black Red Green White",
“brgw"<ENTER>
answer key_choice prompt and print ans$
print ans$<ENTER>
Now you can test to see whether ans$ is equal to "b" or "r"
or “g" or "w" to see what was chosen.
PROMPT WITH OPTIONS SET IN ROWS&COLUMNS
Sometimes we have a situation that has many options and
in order to sensibly display them | have a_ special
procedure that uses an arrow that points to options set up
in rows and columns and can be positioned to select an
option. It also works nicely if the options can be laid out in
just a single line like with key_choice above.
by_arrow;sr,nr,sc,nc,cwd,optlist$, strpos By arrow
procedure where selections are made by positioning an
arrow on the options displayed in a rowcolumn format
(option matrix) and pressing <ENTER>. The arrow can be
moved with the arrow keys or by pressing characters
corresponding to the option which will move the arrow to
the option. The options need to be displayed to the screen
in exact row and column format before the procedure is
called. The arguments passed include :
1. sr : the starting row on the screen (0 to 23)
31
2. nr: the number of rows
3. sc: the starting column (0 to 80)
4. nc: the number of columns
5. cwd : the column width
6. optlistS : a list of characters fixing which option the
arrow should go to when a character is pressed. There
should be nr*nc characters in optlist$} and columns are
first so for a 3 row and 4 column option matrix the 6th
character of the 12 characters in optlist$ would be row 2
and column 2. All characters in optlist§ must be upper
case but numbers and other keyboard symbols are okay.
7. strtpos : starting position to have the arrow in when
prompt starts up. A number from 1 to nr*ne.
When | display the option matrix | capitalize one character
in each option which is the character to press to move the
arrow to that option. Sometimes 2 options might be
strongly tied to the same character like Flp1_ and Fip2.
That is okay. You can put 'f in the Flp1_ position and f in
the flp2_ position of optlist$. Pressing 'f once will reach
Fip1_ and pressing it again will reach Flp2_and pressing it
again returns back to Flp1_. Pressing a character not in
optlist$ will cause a '?' to appear in place of the arrow and
it won't move. When <ENTER> is pressed whatever
option is currently selected will be returned as a number in
global variable ans. It will be between 1 and nr’nc. If the
number zero (0) is pressed at any time before <ENTER>
then by_arrow will return with ans=0 no matter which
option the arrow was on. When displaying the options the
block on the screen where the option matrix is displayed
should be done in reverse screen (by using the special rv$
character initialized in the setup procedure). All this
makes for a well behaved procedure that handles those
many option situations.
Setting up a by_arrow call first requires printing an option
matrix on the screen in reverse characters. Suppose we
wanted to have the user choose among several colors.
Everything has to be typed in one long line since we are
working from the ARCHIVE prompt. In a program you
could use several lines. Press <F5> if you have an error
so you can edit the line :
cls.print at 10,1;"Choose a color
Green Blue “at 12,1," Indigo Violet
by _arrow,11,2,2,3,8,""RGBIVB", 1<ENTER>
If error <F5> else answer by_arrow prompt then print ans
print ans<ENTER>
Inside your program you would check the value of ans
which would range from 1 to 6 or 0 if the user pressed 0.
Red=1, Green=2, Blue=3, Indigo=4, Violet=5, Black=6. It
takes a little fussing to get the spacing right in the option
matrix. Notice my by_arrow call specifies an 8 character
width for each option starting at column 2 and row 11.
: “at 11,1;1v$;"" Red
Black ":1v$,-
Notice how procedures like device and directory we used
in the QUERY program. Next time more explanations and
new procedrues. Until then or Newport, Happy Archiving!
QLAMBer
{QL_A_Moving_Box/enhancedrelease]
by Al Feng
QLAMBer continues in the tradition of its forerunner, QLUSTer, by
extending the selective file management capabilities of the QLUTter
program(s) by additionally accessing six SuperTOOLKIT2 keywords
[WCOPY, WDELete, SPooL, RENAME / WREName, WSTATus] while reducing
its code size to less than that of the original QLUTter program.
QLAMBer 2.nnn supports easy sub-directory access.
The SCREEN
| (FlL] COPY (F2] de-FILE (F3] Hard-COPY ([F4] RENAME [F5] pre-VIEW |
(esc) EXIT Tue. Mar 21, 1994 09:55:21 PM page 1 O+ files |
I
| EXEC_W flpl_diskname 512.5 Kilobytes 290/1440 sectors
{ Quill ) Archive Abacus Easel
{ backup convert disced filed 1
editor Parser_Task CodeGen_Task FLIST_imp
t quil_HOB arCHV_HOB abba_HOB graf_HOB
1 boot printer_dat Gprint prt DRIVER_DAT ‘
zip -> turbo_code ram_code QLAMBer
The “absolute" number of files on a disk are not indicated. Only
the number of files NOT visible on the current screen. I£ you have
more than 76 files on the disk, the number is indicated after the
current page number and followed by 't files'. A number greater
than zero indicates that another 'page' may be accessed.
Serial port output is changed simply by pressing the [ " ] key when
in the 'Hard-COPY' routine.
32
As with QLUSTer, you move from "standard" functions to TK2_based
functions by simply pressing the [ / ] key.
A screen page is "shifted"/changed (if applicable) by simply
pressing a (shift] + (cursor) key combination.
If you have more than 76 files in a single directory, then simply
press the (shift] key in tandem with the down arrow /{cursor_down]
key.
If you want to "page" to flp2_ from flpl_ then simply press the
(shift] key in tandem with a right arrow key.
Tu "page" back to flpl_ from flp2_ then simply press the [shift]
Key in tandem with the left arrow key.
Using the {ConTRoL] key with the left arrow key will access a
different type of device of like numerical value (that is, from
flp2_ to ram2_; mdv2_ to flp2_; mdvl_ to flp1_; raml_ to flpl_;
winl_ to flpl_; and, so on).
Sub_DIRectories are accessed when the { filename } selected is
appended with the ' ->' suffix. When the program encounters an
"empty" sub_DIRectory, you will be given the option of DELeting it.
SELECT_DEVICE is used to RETurn to the main directory.
Filenames longer than 32 characters are NOT recognized by the
program,
The QLAMBer program's SELECT_DEVICE also has been modified to use a
highlighted moving_box/shaded_bar; and, for those who prefer the
traditional single_key selection method, a version with this format
is retained as QLAMBer_EXE.
The new 'SELECT_DEVICE' option is illustrated below.
|
W//// Elpl_ S///
raml_
winl_
i
t
t
|
| other
Vines she ee
| { £lpl_mode ]
|
CONTINUED ON
PAGE 42
35
THE QBOX-USA BBS
by
John J. Impellizzeri - Utica, MI, USA
QBox-USA is a computer bulletin board system (BBS) set up by
QL enthusiasts in the US for all Sinclair enthusiasts in
North America (although we welcome callers from anywhere).
We maintain a link (Fidonet) with European BBS’s that carry
Sinclair related message areas. While the majority of the
messages are QL related, we do carry a Spectrum message area.
There are also file areas with many programs available for
download. There is NO charge to use QBox-USA. Your only
cost is the phone call to the system.
To borrow a line from an old song, ‘What a long strange trip
it’s been...‘
That pretty much describes getting QBox-USA set up and
running from the first time it was considered and talked
about in Newport, Rhode Island, in June 1993 until the system
that is online today.
Long because it seemed like forever trying to learn the
software which is scattered among about a _ half-dozen
different programs that make up the various parts of the QBox
system. Strange because most of these programs are still in
a ‘beta’ test state with limited or outdated documentation.
Strange also due to a few problems that snuck in during a
mail exchange with our host BBS in England. To paraphrase
Murphy: ‘The programmer will have never seen a bug quite like
yours’.
The system runs entirely on a Sinclair QL. One of the easier
parts was getting all the hardware set up and going. With a
few modifications a standard QL can run reliably for long
periods of time although there have been a few systen
crashes. A few due to me learning by experimenting and a few
that I can only chalk up as random glitches.
All of the hardware that makes up this sytem was extra or
surplus equipment that was donated by people who wanted to
take part in the European Fido echos. Before setting up this
system, we had been individually calling the European BBS‘s.
Besides duplicating efforts it was expensive. About the only
cost involved so far has been the telephone line installation
and of course the monthly phone bill. This is still much
cheaper than before due to the fact that the mail files are
sent compressed and late at night. Currently we call our
host BBS in England (TF Services) once or twice a_ week to
exchange mail using a high speed modem. Most calls take just
a few minutes to transfer 100K bytes or so of messages.
Since the system runs from floppy disks, storage space can be
a little tight. (We had no extra hard drives or interfaces
laying around). While QBox-USA was intended primarily to
take part in the message exchange with QL users in Europe,
we also wanted to try and maintain a few file areas
containing useful public domain software available for
download to North American users. We are investigating a few
ways of cheaply and simply adding more storage space.
We try and keep the latest PD stuff online here. If there is
34
something you have heard about and it is not here, whether
new or old, leave a message to me or Don Walterman and we‘ll
see if we can get a hold of it or maybe we already have it
and can make it available here for you.
For now though most of the confusion has cleared up, Mr.
Murphy has been banished (or least kept at bay) and I’m
settling into a regular routine maintaining the system and
starting to have fun with it. Despite the confusion,
hair-pulling and cursing of the computer gods it has been
worth it. Comments, good or bad, are always welcome!
I do have to thank the following people, without them the
system wouldn’t be running and you wouldn’t be reading this!
Don Walterman
Tony Firshman
Jan Bredenbeek
Bob Dyl
Lester Wareham
Chris Fowler
In this part of the article I will attempt to explain how to
use, and some of the features of, the QBox-USA Bulletin Board
System (BBS). As the System Operator (sysop), I hope to be
able to explain this without hopelessly confusing a brand
new user. I apologize if this is extremely boring to an
experienced BBS user. What I won’t be describing is how to
use a communications program to connect with QBox. That is
the subject of another article. I will start with once you
have made a successful connection and take it from there.
Also please note that while there are quite a few BBS’s
using the QBox software (mostly in Europe, I believe we’re
the first in the USA), I will only be describing the system
that I am the operator of. Other QBox systems will be
similar but may have more or fewer, or different options and
commands, depending on how the sysop has set up his systen
and what hardware he has. However, once you learn to use one
Qbox BBS, you should have no trouble using any other.
Okay, so you've dialed QBox-USA and the modems have
connected. A few seconds after the ‘CONNECT’ message appears
on your screen, QBox will start and send a logon screen.
This screen will identify the system, and provide some
general info about the BBS and then ask you to enter your
first and last name (first name, a space, and last name).
Note that it is not necessary to capitalize the first letter
of each, QBox will do this automatically, and will recognize
you on subsequent logons whether you capitalize or not.
QBox will search through its list of users for your name. If
it recognizes you (meaning that you’ve called before), it
will ask you to enter your password. If it can’t find your
name in the list, it will ask if you are a new user or if you
have perhaps entered your name incorrectly. If you’re a new
user, answer ‘Y’. Qbox will greet you as a new user and ask
which town you are calling from. I would like to ask North
American users of QBox-USA to enter their town or city
followed by their state or province. It’s nice to know what
part of the country everyone is calling from! The BBS will
ask for confirmation of the town entered and then ask for the
password that you wish to use on this system. Your password
398
keeps someone else from logging on under your name. I won/’t
go into the subject of choosing passwords or their security
as that could also be another article. Qbox will ask you to
reenter the password you just typed so that it can verify
that what you entered the first time was what you really
intended. Note that what you type is not displayed for
security reasons. If the two don’t match, you will have to
start over entering a password.
For new users, there may be a questionaire displayed next
asking you to enter some information. Otherwise a message
stating no questionaire today will be displayed.
Once your password has been verified, QBox will display some
statistics about your call and then display a bulletin. This
bulletin is used to inform users of anything about the system
that the sysop wants users to know. It may detail new
features, new files available, changes or just news in
general. At this point I should explain about a prompt that
you will see at certain points while using QBox. This is
the ‘More? (Y/n)’ prompt. Qbox will display this when it has
filled your screen and pauses to let you read. It is asking
do you want to see more? You can press ‘Y’ to see more or
‘n’ to stop. You can also just press Enter which will be
accepted as a ‘Y’. At any place in QBox where you see a
prompt with a choice such as Y/n, the option that is
capitalized is the one that will be assumed if you just press
Enter. Also, at almost any point in the BBS, you can control
the output of the BBS by pressing ‘P’ to pause the BBS, and
‘S’ to stop. If you have paused the BBS, just press any key
to continue. If you have stopped the output, you will be
returned to the menu from where you came.
After the bulletin is displayed, QBox will scan the message
areas for any new messages for you, any new messages in any
of the areas since your last call, and if there have been any
new files uploaded since your last call. From here you will
be presented with the main menu. You can select any of the
options on the main menu by pressing the letter in the
brackets [ ]. What do all these options do? We‘’1ll take each
one individually and explain it.
Since the Mail and File options are a bit more involved and
have menus of their own, we’ll leave them for later and
explain the others first.
Pressing ’B’ for [B]Julletin will redisplay the bulletin
screen that you saw when you logged on. Qbox will also scan
the mail and file areas again for you.
{E]ditorial will display just that, an editorial written by
(at least for now) me, the sysop. Currently this a little
history story about how and why we set up the BBS.
[I]nfo will present you with a list of information items
available on the system. Simply enter the number of the item
you wish to read or just press enter to quit this option.
After the info is presented, press enter to get back to the
Info list and read another or quit back to the main menu.
Some of the current info available is a list of other known
QL/QDOS BBS systems, a list of newsletters & magazines
supporting the QL and QDOS and a list of the hardware and
software used on QBox-USA.
36
[S]tatistics gives you a report of your status such as how
long you’ve been online this session, how much time you’re
allowed per day, the time you have left, the last time you
logged on and the number of times you’ve called this sytem.
[G]loodbye is what you use to log off the system. It will ask
for confirmation that you really wish to leave and if so, ask
if you wish to leave the sysop a message. A logoff screen
will be presented and the times that you logged on and logged
off shown. Please use the Goodbye option to log off rather
than just hanging up. Logging off properly will ensure that
your statistics on the BBS and messages that you’ve read are
recorded properly. It will also ensure that the BBS resets
itself for the next caller. If you simply hang up, it will
take the BBS a while to realize that you’re not there anymore
and needlessly ties up the system preventing someone else
from using it. Every sysop realizes that there will be
occasional problems due to a bad phone connection or a
hardware or software problem or crash on your end (or even
mine!) that will cause you to be disconnected improperly.
Don’t worry about it if it happens. But please, always try
and log off properly! There! I’ve said please! (Sysop’s
everywhere will appreciate it!)
(C]hange user settings takes you to a screen showing your
current settings and a menu of items that you can change to
customize the way that QBox presents itself to your system.
This will also allow you to change your password if you wish.
Press the letter of the setting you wish to change. City and
password are self explanatory, width is the number of
characters per line across your screen you wish and terminal
lines is the number of lines down the screen. These should
be set to match the terminal software you are using. Usually
the default settings are fine for most QL terminal programs.
Once you get more accustomed to using the system you may wish
to save time by turning off the menus, select help level to
do this. There are three levels of help; full menus, brief
menus, and no menus. More will toggle the More prompt on and
off. If off, QBox will not pause at the end of a screen but
will continue displaying until the end. You can still
control the output using the P and S keys as explained
earlier. If you’ve made some changes and decide you don’t
want to change them, press R to return without updating
anything. If you’re satisfied with your changes, press Q and
the changes will be saved and take effect.
{U]sers will allow you to search for a name to see if that
person is a user on this system. You can also get a list of
all the users if you wish. The list will show the name,
city, and the date and time of each users last logon.
{Ajnswer questionaire will, (if there is currently a
questionaire set up), display the same questionaire you would
see if you were a new user logging on for the first time.
{YJell is an option used to call the sysop. It will sound
a beeper on the QL running the BBS to call the sysops
attention. Please note that the sysop can control whether or
not the beeper will sound. If I am going to be nearby the
BBS and won’t mind an interruption, I will turn it = on.
However if you try to Yell at 3 AM my time or when I am at
work, chances are very good I won’t hear it! (It’s turned
37
off!) If the beeper is turned off or the sysop doesn’t
respond, you will get a message saying ‘Sysop not present’.
If he does, you will enter ‘Chat’ mode. In this mode,
anything that the sysop types on his keyboard will also show
up on your screen and vice versa for anything that you type.
An electronic conversation!! The sysop can also initiate the
chat. You will see a message on your screen saying ‘Sysop
breaking in for a chat’. When the chat is ended (only the
sysop can end the chat), you will be returned to the main
menu. You may have to press any key to get the menu
redisplayed.
(Vjersion will simply display the revision level of the Qbox
BBS software running. We are currently using QBox version
1.191.
Pressing ‘M’ for [MJail will take you to the message section.
There are currently seven message areas on QBox-USA, each
with a different subject or category. In these areas you can
exchange messages (mail) with other users. Ask a question
about that new software or hardware you just got and need
help with, leave a note about a programming problem, or just
make a comment about the QL world in general. Two of the
areas are local, in other words they exist only on QBox-USA.
The others are known as echomail areas. Echomail is a system
where messages are echoed or passed between BBS’s allowing
your messages to be seen by a far greater number of users
than they would normally be seen by. A message left by you
in one of the echo areas will be echoed among other BBS’s
carrying the same echo. A reply or message to you entered
on another BBS will be seen by you on this BBS. The two
local mail areas on QBox-USA are NOT echoed and messages
entered here will only be seen by someone calling QBox-USA
directly.
When you enter the mail area you will be in the area you were
in the last time you called or area #1 if this is your first
call. The area number and name will be displayed along with
two numbers showing the last message number you have read and
the total number of messages in this area. QBox will also
scan the area and report (by message #) of any new messages
to you, old messages to you and messages you have entered. A
sub menu of options in the mail area is displayed next. To
read a specific message, simply enter its number and press
enter and it will be displayed. Other commands are explained
elow:
[A]rea change allows you to change message areas. Enter the
area you wish to go to, or enter a ‘?’ to seea list of
available areas.
(N]Jext will display the next message (by number) after the
last one that you have read. Note that the last message #
read will change as you read messages.
{P]revious will do the opposite and show one message before
the last one you read. Note that this will also change the
last message read #.
Also note that by using either of these two commands, you can
continue reading in the same direction by simply pressing
enter.
38
{.]Current will redisplay the last read message for you.
{-] and [+] allow you to read either the previous or next
reply to the current message (if there is one) rather than
reading messages sequentially using Next or Previous, above.
[C] for read [C]ontinuous will simply display each message in
order without stopping after each one. This is handy to use
if your communications software lets you open a capture or
log file. Open the file just before you select this command
and all the messages will sent without stopping. When it
finishes, close your file. You can then log off and read the
messages at your leisure without being online (and running up
your phone bill). Note that this command will send messages
in the same direction as you have been reading messages (Next
or Previous, as above).
Ljist will present a brief account of the messages by
showing the message number, the date it was entered, who it’s
from, who it’s to, and the subject. You can select the
starting number to list from or press enter for the current
last read message.
YjJour mail will rescan the mail area and redisplay for you
the message numbers of new messages to you, old messages to
you and messages you have entered.
Djelete allows you to delete a message that you have
entered. To be deleted, the message must be the current last
read message and have been entered by you. For obvious
reasons you cannot delete a message entered by someone else.
S]tatistics and [G]joodbye are the same commands as in the
main menu.
Qjuit will take you out of the mail area and back to the
BBS’s main menu.
Ejnter message does just that, lets you enter a new message.
QBox will print who the message is from and fill in your name
for you. Next you will be asked for the name of the user
you are sending the message to. If you are entering a
message in one of the echo areas, the name will be accepted
as is, so be careful of the spelling, otherwise the user may
not be notified that there is a message for him. When
entering a message ina local message area, the name will
checked against the list of users on the system. If the name
is not found, you will be given some choices: Abort the
message entry, retry entering the name, ignore the warning
(if, for example, you wanted to enter a message addressed to:
all), or to see the user list to see how the name is spelled.
After this, if you are in a local area, you will be asked if
this is to be a private message (only readable by the person
it’s addressed to, note: the sysop can also read private
messages). Private messages are not allowed in the echo
areas. Next you are asked for the subject of the message.
You can then begin entering your message. Note the prompt
from the BBS, that words will wrap automatically and to press
enter on an empty line to indicate that you are done.
When done entering a message you can [L]ist the message to
proofread it, [A]bort the message entry, change the name of
the person it’s [T]o, change the _ sub[J]ject, change the
3?
[P]rivate status (local only), {[C]Jontinue entering the
message, [E]dit a line, [I]nsert a line, [D]elete a line or
lines, or [S]Jave the message. The message will not be put
on the system until you select the Save message option. You
can use any of the above options to get your message looking
the way you want before actually placing it in the mail area
for others to read.
[Rleplying to a message is very similar to entering a new
message. You will see the same prompts and have the same
options. The BBS will offer a suggested name for the ‘To
user:’ prompt and for the subject prompt. The name will be
the name of the person who wrote the message that you are
replying to and the subject will the same subject as the
original message. You can accept these suggestions by
pressing enter at each, or you can enter your own. There is
one additional option when replying. You can quote text from
the original message if you wish. This might be used to make
sure that your reply is understood by having some (or all) of
the original message as a part of your reply. If you do
select the quote option, all of the original message will
placed at the start of your reply with a ’>‘ character at the
beginning of every line signifying the original text. You
can then edit the lines as necessary and add your reply.
From the Main menu you can press ‘’F’ for access to the [F]lile
areas. The file areas contain many programs that you can
download. Note that a download is from the BBS to your
computer. Uploads (from your computer to the BBS) are also
gladly accepted! When you enter the file area, it’s number
and name will be shown. The name is simply the general
category of the files contained in this area. There are
currently the following areas on QBox-USA: General Files,
Communications, Utilities, Archivers, Pointer Stuff, and
Emulators. A further menu of options available in the file
areas is displayed.
A]rea change allows you to change file areas. Simply enter
the number of the area or a ‘'?’ to see a list of available
areas.
Fjile list will give you a listing of file titles, size in
bytes anda short description of each program available in
this area.
Vjiew will let you look at a text file online without having
to download it first. It will ask you for the filename you
wish to view. View only works on files that are text! These
are usually signified by an extension such as ‘_txt’.
S]tatistics, (Q]Juit and [GJoodbye are the same as explained
earlier.
Pressing ‘'D’ for [D]ownload will start the download
procedure. You will be asked to choose a protocol. QBox
currently supports Xmodem, SEAlink and Telink transfer
protocols. Your terminal software will need to support at
least one of these in order to download files. If you select
Xmodem you will be asked to enter the name of the file you
wish to receive. Since SEAlink and Telink allow multiple
files to be transferred (batch), you can enter more than one
name. As you enter the name (be careful of spelling, use
the File list command to see how the names are spelled), the
40
BBS will display it’s size in bytes and an estimated transfer
time based on your’ connection baud rate. For batch
protocols, simply press enter at a filename? prompt to
indicate no more files. The BBS will then prompt you to
start downloading now and instruct you on how to cancel the
transfer if necessary. At this point you should start the
download portion of your terminal software. Depending on
your software, you should see some type of progress report as
the transfer proceeds. After the transfer has completed you
will be returned to the File menu.
{U]pload will allow you to send a file from your system to
the BBS. Please do not upload commercial or copyrighted
programs (unless you own the copyright and wish to place the
program in the public domain). You will be asked to choose a
protocol and the amount of disk space available on the
system for uploads will be shown. QBox will then ask for the
filename or names if a batch protocol was selected. After
you enter this you will be prompted to begin the transfer
from your end and how to cancel if you wish. After the
transfer has completed the BBS will ask you to enter a short
description of the file or files you just uploaded (79
characters maximum) .
Just a few more general notes on using QBox-USA: First, for
doing file transfers using Xmodem, QBox requires 128 byte
blocks. It cannot (currently) handle Xmodem 1K byte blocks.
Please make sure that your terminal software is set for 128
byte blocks if using Xmodem for file transfers. Second, the
BBS has a three minute inactivity timeout. This means that
if the BBS detects no response from you after waiting three
minutes, it will disconnect you and reset for the next
caller. Don’t wait too long while deciding what to do while
online. (Hopefully this article will prevent this by
explaining what all those commands do!).
Third, I have modified the BBS software so that it will send
the ‘ENQ‘ character at logon. What this means is that if
your terminal software supports an auto logon sequence by
responding to the ‘’ENQ’ you can automate logging on to
QBox-USA. Fourth, once you have logged on to a QBox system
for the first time, if you do not log on again within 30
days, your name will be automatically deleted from the
system. Once you log on the second time, your name will only
be removed if you do not log on for over 90 days.
Finally, I hope this article will prompt you to give QBox-USA
a try! If you do call, please leave me or my co-sysop, Don
Walterman, a message. Let us know what you think of the
systen. Let me know what you think of this article.
Comments, criticism, and suggestions are always welcome!
QBox-USA can be reached at 810-254-9878. (Detroit, Michigan
area). 24 hours a day. 300/1200/2400 baud. A new high
speed modem (up to 14400 baud) should be online soon.
41
The default medium is "flpl_" and this will be activated if you
simply PRESS the ENTER key. I£ you wish to select another option,
then PRESS another letter_key to indicate the storage device which
you wish to access (the medium must NOT be write protected).
If you wish to access another type of device other than your floppy
drives, then you simply press either the up_cursor/down_cursor key
to move the (green) shaded_bar visible within the SELECT_DEVICE
box.
To change the drive number (1 to 3) simply press the left_cursor or
right_cursor key until the desired numerical value is realized.
For drives 4 and above, use the "other" option.
QLAMBer requires SuperTOOLKIT coding installed via ROM (or, RAM)
prior to LOADing.
QLAMBer easily multi-TASKs using either the QRAM environment or
within TASKMASTER.
Send comments, questions, or queries to:
Al Feng
914 Rio Vista Circle SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105
U.S.A.
(505) 843-8414
HAPPY TRAILS,
AND COMPUTING, TO YOU
L Hacker's Journal
Supporting All QL Programmers
Timothy C. Swenson, Editor
5615 Botkins Rd.
Huber Heights, OH 45424
(513) 233-2178
swensote@p2.ams.wpafb.af.mil
hy ° os
eileen
a
15 Kilburn Court, Newport, RI 02840 USA
42
THIS SHOULD BE READ BY BIOLOGISTS
AND GENETICISTS
I HAVE SPENT 27 YEARS OF MY LIFE SEARCHING FOR THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, IS
THERE A FORMULA THAT WILL GENERATE ONLY PRIME NUMBERS OR IS THAT IMPOSSIBLE?. MANY
PEOPLE SINCE TIME BEGAN SOUGHT THE ANSWER AND NONE HAVE FOUND IT; WHICH IS WHY I
BEGAN THE SEARCH. IN MY WARPED SENSE OF MY EGO-AT 17 YEARS OF AGE, I THOUGHT I
COULD DO ANYTHING SINCE I HAD NEVER FAILED AT ANYTHING YET AT THAT AGE.
IN 1972 I FOUND THE PATH TO THE SOLUTION, AND AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF TRYING TO
GET RECOGNITION AS THE FIRST PERSON ON THIS PLANET TO FIND A SOLUTION, I FAILED
TO GET PUBLISHED, AND WAS REBUFFED BY THE ACADEMIC AND MATH COMMUNITIES, EVEN
THOUGH THEY GAVE NO EXPLANATION FOR THEIR REFUSAL TO EXAMINE MY WORK. FINALLY, I
JOINED MENSA, AND PUBLISHED THE ESSENCE OF MY WORK IN THE NOVEMBER 1975 ISSUE OF
MENSA'S JOURNAL
I HAVE NOT LEARNED VERY MUCH SINCE BEING 17, AND I AM STILL SO VAIN THAT I
BELIEVE THAT I AM A SPECIAL HUMAN BEING WHOSE DNA SHOULD BE SAVED AND EXAMINED FOR
POSTERITY.
WHETHER OR NOT THAT IS TRUE, IS IRRELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING TRUE STATEMENTS:
ALL PRIMES (EXCEPT 2,3 and 5) END IN 1,3,7 OR 9.
ALL PRIMES EXIST IN ONE OF 24 FAMILIES.
THE 24 FAMILIES ARE THE RESULT OF MY RESEARCH.
THE SIMILARITIES IN THE 4 BUILDING BLOCKS OF DNA AND RNA PLUS THE 24
CHROMOSOMES OF MAN, TO THE 4 BUILDING BLOCKS OF PRIMES AND ITS 24 FAMILIES,
HAS LED ME TO CONCLUDE THAT THERE EXISTS A DEFINITE RELATIONSHIP TO THE
SECRETS OF PRIMES AND THE SECRETS OF DOUBLE SPIRAL HELICES.
I AM NOT KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH TO ENTER THE FIELD OF BIO-GENETICS, AND MAYBE [
AM NOT SMART ENOUGH ANYMORE TO FIND THE CONNECTION. I AM CONVINCED THAT MY
CONJECTURE AS TO THIS RELATIONSHIP IS OF SUCH IMPORTANCE, THAT SOMEONE IN
THE BIO-GENETIC-MATH COMMUNITY SHOULD PURSUE THIS PREMISE. ALSO, I AM
GETTING TO OLD FOR THIS DEPTH OF REASONING AND DISCIPLINED LOGIC.
THE FOLLOWING PAGES GIVE THE FRAMEWORK OF MY RESULTS, BUT FIRST LET ME EXPLAIN A
FEW THINGS;
ROR
o
1, THE LEVEL OF MATHEMATICS REQUIRED TO UNDERSTAND MY STATEMENTS, REQUIRES ORDINARY
HIGH SCHOOL STUFF.
2. THE LEVEL OF LOGIC AND REASONING IS A LITTLE HIGHER.
3. ALL NUMBERS DIVISIBLE BY 2,3 AND 5 HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED FROM THE V NOS.
GENERATED BY EQ.2,P.3, WHICH MAKES THE SAMPLE TO INVESTIGATE MUCH SMALLER.
4. THE COMPOSITES ARE ALWAYS MADE FROM 2 OR MORE PRIMES.
5. COMPOSITES THAT ARE SQUARES CAN ONLY OCCUR IN Va NOS. ENDING IN 1 OR 9.
IN 1988 I BOUGHT A TWO POUND COMPUTER POWERED BY 4 AA BATTERIES, WHICH ENABLED
ME TO TAKE MY WONDERFUL FORMULAE AND CREATE A SIMPLE PROGRAM TO ALLOW THE COMPUTER
TO TEST ANY NUMBER LESS THAN A BILLION, FOR ITS FACTORS OR PRIMALITY IN A FEW
SECONDS!! I CAN TAKE THIS WITH ME ANYWHERE. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DNA, BUT IT
IS FASCINATING, AND A RESEARCHER MAY USE THIS AS A TOOL. MY PROGRAM CAN BE
MADE AVAILABLE TO ANY QUALIFIED RESEARCHER.
ELITE; BIO-PRIMES.LTR; MATH + INSTR
43
PRIME NUMBERS by MIKE FINK
(C) JAN 1966, MAY 1973, MAR 1990
PREMISE: A FORMULA (OR FORMULAE) WHICH WILL ALLOW A NUMBER N TO BE INVESTIGATED
TO DETERMINE IF IT IS A PRIME - ~ IS POSSIBLE.
ATTITUDE: IF A FORMULA IS FOUND THAT GENERATES ALL PRIMES BUT CONTAINS A FEW
NON-PRIMES THAT SMELL DIFFERENTLY, AND A TEST TO REMOVE THE SMELLY ONES IS AN EASY TEST,
THIS WOULD AND SHOULD SATISFY THE CONDITIONS FOR A VIABLE SOLUTION. WHAT REMAINS THEN IS
A DEFINITION FOR EASY.
. ALL PRIMES BEYOND 2,3 and 5 HAVE THE UNITS DIGIT = 1,3,7 or 9.
2. EQ. 2 P.3, GENERATES ALL PRIMES, PLUS A SMALL GROUP OF NON-PRIMES, AND 1(ONE) IS
CONSIDERED A PRIME FOR PURPOSES OF FAMILY IDENTIFICATION, OR MAYBE IT IS A PRIME!
3. INEQ.2, ALL PRIMES HAVE THE FACTORS OR ROOTS OF Ri=1 AND Rz=N; FOR THE
NON-PRIMES Ri=7 OR LARGER IN THE FORM OF Ri=V+90C (SEE EQ. 7and 8).
4. Zam SIGNIFIES THE SUMMING OF THE DIGITS IN A NUMBER TO A SINGLE DIGIT. THIS DIGIT,
FOR NOS. GENERATED BY E£Q.2, CAN ONLY BE 1,4,7,2,5 or 8. (6 CHOICES)
5. POSTULATE: Em of N = (2mRi)(LmRz) = (LmVi)(LmVe) I!
6. POSTULATE: ALL NOS. GENERATED BY EQ.2 FALL INTO 24 FAMILIES, ie: 2m HAS
ONLY 6 POSSIBILITIES (1,4,7,2,5,8) AND THE UNITS DIGIT OF N HAS ONLY 4 WAYS TO
HAPPEN (1,3,7,9) CREATING (6x4) 24 FAMILIES.
7. THE FIRST 12 NOS. GENERATED BY EQ.3 and EQ.4, (SEE TABLE 1-P.3), YIELD "V" NOS.;
12 Va and 12 Vs.
8. HYPOTHESTS: TO FIND A FORMULA TO SATISFY THE PREMISE CONSIDERING ALL
POTENTIAL PRIMES AT ONCE IS DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE; BUT BY BREAKING THE
POTENTIAL PRIMES INTO THE 24 FAMILIES, ORDER CAN BE FOUND WITHIN EACH FAMILY.
-
9. AX TOM: A. ALL NOS. GENERATED BY EQ.2 ARE EITHER PRIME OR NOT.
BB. ALL NON-PRIMES GENERATED BY EQ.2 HAVE ROOTS THAT CAN BE FOUND BY EQ.'S
16,17 and 18 - - or EQ.'S 9 and 10.
C. THEREFORE IF B IS TRUE, ALL OTHER NOS. ARE PRIME.
10. PROOF THAT B IS TRUE:
A. TABLE 2, PAGE 3, SHOWS ALL THE COMBINATIONS OF (Vi)(Vz) THAT WILL SATISFY
POSTULATE 5. ba
B. FOR ANY N IN A GIVEN "V" FAMILY, THERE ARE EITHER 12 OR 14 COMBINATIONS |
OF (Vi)(V2) TO BE INSERTED INTO EQ.'S 16,17 and 18. |
Cc. IF N IS NOT PRIME, INTEGER ROOTS OTHER THAN Ra = 1 WILL APPEAR;
THEREFORE B OF 9 IS TRUE!!
ELITE-PRIMES.PED; PRIMES-P2.- MATH + INSTR
44
PRIME NUMBERS
by MIKE FINK
(C) JAN 1966, MAY 1973, MAR 1990
TO PROVE WHETHER A NUMBER IS PRIME, OR FIND ITS ROOTS IF IT, IS COMPOSITE, THE FOLLOWING
FORMULAE ARE REQUIRED:
EQ.
EQ.
EQ.
EQ.
EQ.
EQ.
OONOWAWNH
N=
N=
V+ 90 C SEE £Q.5
6n+5 WHERE nioSk 1<=k<=infinity
Na=6n-5 SEE TABLE 1
Ne=6n+5 SEE TABLE 1
Naz
Cs
N=
N
Na =
Vat90Ca Nn=Vn+9@Cn SEE EQ.1
(N-V)/90 SEE EQ.1
RiRz Ri and Rez = ROOTS or FACTORS
(V1+90C:) (V2+90Cz) = V+90C
X?-9Y?
Ne = 9X?-Y¥?
NaNaisNaz NeNei=Nas NaNo=Nez
Ka = (Ri+Rz)/2 = 3(nitne)+5
Xe = (Ri+Rz)/6
Ya
Ye =
(nitnz)
(n2-ni)
3(nz-ni)+5
(R2-Ri)/6
(R2-Ri)/2
IF Ci=@, (N-ViV2)/Vi = 90C2
IF C2=@, (N-ViVz)/V2 = 90C. SEE EQ.8
WHEN C, or C2 «<>;
TABLE 2
(N-ViVz2-90V2Ca ) /(Vi+9@Ci )
(N-ViV2-90ViC2) /(V2+98C2)
VALUES FOR V2
TABLE 1
CON ARWNHlS
{Va
Va
{
Va 3 Ve {| Va 7 Ve Va
9
Ve
8 |
11 14 {7 {2 {5 {8 [2 14 |7 [2 {5 {8 Ji 14 17 12 (5 [8 |i 44 [7 [2 [5
9 49 79 29 5
@ljo. 31 61 11
13 43 83 23 53/37 67 07 47 77 17{1
31 61 11 41 71[19 49 79 29 59 89{+35 13 43
49 79 29 59 89/91 31 61 11 41 71[sa> 67 @7
67 67 47 77 17173 13 43 83 23 53/91 31 61
73 13 23 53 83|@7 37 67 77 17 47|79 19 49
91 31 41 71 11179 19 49 59 89 2943 73 is
19 49 59 8929/61 91 31 41 71 11/07 37 67
37 67 77 17 47/43 73 13 23 53 83/61 91 31
4A SmRi
43 73 53 83 23|67 @7 37 17 47 77149 79 19
61 91 71 11 41149 79 19 89 29 59|13 45 73
79 19 89 29 59/31 61 91 71 11 41/67 er 37
@7 37 17 47 77|13 43 73 53 83 23[31 61 91
83 53 73 43 13177 47 17 37 @7 67{59 29 89
11 71 91 61 31]59 29 89 19 79 49/23 es 53
29 89 19 79 49/41 11 71 91 61 31/77 a> 17
47 17 37 @7 67|23 83 53 73 43 13}41 11 71
2 Demi
53 23 13 73 43{47 17 77 67 37 07[|29 89 59
71 41 31 91 61129 89 59 49 19 79|83 53 23
89 59 49 19 79{11 71 41 31 91 61|47 17 77
17 77 67 37 07/83 53 23 13 73 43{11 71 41
23 83 43 13 7317 77 47 07 67 37{89 59 29
41 11 61 31 91/89 59 29 79 49 19]s3 23 83
59 29 79 49 19/71 41 11 61 31 91|i> 77 47
77_47 67 67 37153 23 83 43 13 73/71 41 11
8B Lak.
1414 14 12
12
12 12
12 1212 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 12
12
12
LEFT-MOST COLUMN CONTAINS W7 a X0S.
MATH + INSTR
POSSIBLE
SQUARES CAN ONLY EXIST WHERE xrarnzz NOS. ARE SHOWN
PAIRS
PRIME NUMBERS by MIKE FINK
(C) JAN 1966, MAY 1973, MAR 1990
CHOOSE ANY FAMILY; N=V+90C, SAY, Nu=Vn+90C, (EQ.8, P.3)
THE LARGEST COMPOSITE NO. IN THAT FAMILY IS ALWAYS KNOWN.
CHOOSE Nor LARGER THAN Nos.
IS Noe A PRIME?
THE BIGGEST COMPOSITE LESS THAN Nex IS KNOWN, ie; No
THE SMALLEST COMPOSITE BIGGER THAN Ne CAN EASILY BE GENERATED; SEE EXAMPLE BELOW.
EVERY NO. IN THIS FAMILY BETWEEN THESE TWO NON-PRIMES, IS, BY DEFINITION,
A PRIME !
wre
Oe
EXAMPLE: Ns «= 77 + 90C = 707 =77+90(7)..LARGEST KNOWN NON-PRIME
LET Nee = 1067; (Ce=l1), IS 1067 A PRIME?
ALL NON-PRIMES, IN THIS FAMILY, HAVE ROOTS = RiRz= NaxNox= (Vax+9@Cax) (Vax+I9@nx)
Rl MUST BE EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN 7; SEE TABLES 1 OR 2.
(Vax+90Cx) (Vax+90Cx) = Ri Rz_= Nex
(91+90Cx) (77+90Cx) (91) (77) 7007
(07+90Cx) (11+98Cx) (97) (11) LOG7F7 *«**
(13+98Cx) (89+9@Cx) (13) (89) = 1157
(19+90Cx) (23+96Cx) (19)(113) = 2147 “ * = THE SMALLEST NON-PRIME
(31+90Cx) (17+90Cx) (121)(17) = 2057 BIGGER THAN 707 AND LESS THAN
(37+98Cx) (41+90Cx) (37) (41) 1517 OR EQUAL TO 1067. THEREFORE
(43+90Cx) (29+90Cx) (43) (29) 1247 ALL FAMILY NUMBERS BETWEEN
(49+90Cx) (523+90Cx) (49) (53) 2597 707 AND 1067 MUST BE, AND ARE
(61+90Cx) (47+90Cx) (61) (47) = 2867 PRIMES!t!
(67+90Cx) (71+90Cx) (67) (71) = 4757
(73+98Cx) (59+90Cx) (73) (59) = 4307 797, 887 AND 977 ARE PRIMES!
(79+90Cx) (83+90Cx) = (79) (83) = 6557
THE NOS. USED ABOVE ARE FROM TABLE 2,P.3, AND SHOW THE 12 POSSIBLE V NOS. THAT WILL
SATISFY £Q.11,P.3, AND POSTULATE 5,P.2. THE Cx NOS. ARE CHOSEN TO BE IN THE RANGE OF
THE PROBLEM. :
IT IS NOW OBVIOUS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DEDUCE MULTIPLE PRIMES WITHOUT
DIVIDING !!, FOR EACH AND EVERY FAMILY. THE TIME AND EFFORT REQUIRED IS LESS THAN FOR
ANY OTHER KNOWN METHOD! !
SOME FAMILIES HAVE 14 COMBINATORIAL PAIRS FOR Sinz, THE REST HAVE 12.
MIKE FINK
484 W. 43rd ST. 27Q
NY 10036 NEW YORK
212 971 0368 (ring six times)
46
200 *NAME PRIMES-FINKS.BAS
220 AS="PRIMES-FINKS.BAS"
240 REM SAVED ON A:A1,G:B2
260 REM THIS PROGRAM ASCERTAINS THE PRIMALITY OF ANY NO,LESS THAN A
BILLION
280 REM TO PRINT PROGRAM ON PAPER, CHANGE W. TO 69
300 REM (C) 1988 MIKE FINK with help from robert fink (saskatoon)
320 INPUT" N= "N
340 REM
360 REM
380 DV=0:TIME=0
400 IFN = 2 OR N=3 OR N=5 THEN76Q0ELSE480
420 REM
440 REM
460 REM
480 IFN/2 =INT(N/2)ORN/3=INT(N/3)ORN/5=INT(N/5)THEN840
500 DIM x(24)
520 G=SQR(N)
540 X(01)=07:X%(02)=11:X(03)=13:X%(04)=17:X%(05)=19:X(06)=23:X%(07)=29:
X(08)=31:X(09)=37:X(10)=41:X(11)=43:X%(12)=47:X%(13)=49:%(14)=53:
X(15)=59:X(16)=61:X(17)=67:X(18)=71:X(19)=73:X(20)=77:X(21)=79:
X(22)=83:X%(23)=89:X(24)=91
560 C=0
580 FORY=1T0O24
600 V1=X(Y)+908C
620 IFV1>G THEN800
640 V2=N/V1:DV=DV+(244C)+Y~1
660 IF V2=INT(V2)THENPRINT" Vl = ";Vv1;" V2 = ";V2:RUN
680 REM
700 NEXTY
720 C=C+l
740 GOTO580
760 PRINT" N= ";N;" IS A PRIME!!";" NO. OF DIVISIO
NS= ";DV;" SECONDS=";TIME/100
780 RUN
800 PRINT" N = ";N;" IS A PRIME!!";" NO. OF DIVISIO
NS= ";DV;" SECONDS=";TIME/100 |
820 RUN
840 PRINT" N= ";N;" IS NOT A PRIME"
860 RUN
N= 117 IS NOT A PRIME
N= 114
vl=7 v2 = 17
N = 1119 IS NOT A PRIME
11119 IS A PRIME!! NO. OF DIVISIONS= 351 SECOND
Zz
"
34,357,905
206.06
N = 966666661 IS A PRIME!! NO. OF DIVISIONS
NO. OF SECONDS
THIS PROGRAM RUN ON A 2 POUND PORTABLE THAT I SELL, YOU NEVER NEED TO
LOOK FOR WALL ELECTRICITY....IT RUNS FOR A WEEK ON 4 DUBL A'S AND CAN
RUN FOR 3 MONTHS WITH MY 1 POUND BATTERY PACK!!
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These disks contain at least one major piece of software written
specifically for disk drive (exceptions are noted) and are guaranteed
to be worth the money. The rest of the disk space is often filled with
various utility programs taken from the issues of UPDATE thrown in.
Half of the money from the sale of these programs goes to the software
author to encourage the creation of more QL software for our readers.
Some of the programs take advantage of Tool Kit 2 by Tony Tebby, and
need it to work. If that is the case, it will be listed in the program
description. The price is listed with each program. They are available
in both 3 1/2 and 5 1/4 disk formats. This is for 360K, 720K and 1.4
meg. If needed on an ED disk, then you must provide. We accept
personal checks, company checks, money orders, cash, and C.O.D.
orders. No charge cards, please.
1) CABLE ARCHIVE ISSUE DISK - Written by Bill Cable. Contains many
useful ARCHIVE programs that work on any ARCHIVE database. The titles
include: DIR (directory within ARCHIVE), SCAN (quick database display
and print), FREQ (Frequency distribution of a field), SPLIT (split 1
database display and print), JOIN (join 2 databases into 1), REFIELD
(redefine field names), REPLACE (replace text within a database),
MATCHER (find duplications in a database), WINDEX (word index any text
file), GROUP1, GROUP2, GROUP3 (useful procedures from UPDATE
articles), QUERY (interrogate any database). Also included are
extensive DOC files about the programs and about ARCHIVE in general.
The price is $20.
2) QLUSTER 58109 ISSUE DISK - This great program by Al Feng provides
you with many utilities to handle and unclutter your disk and
microdrives, and it now supports sub-directories. Some of the features
concern COPY, DELETE, FORMAT, VIEW, as well as extended use of some
TK2 commands (needed for this program). These are TURBO compiled to
add speed to the program. It will multi-task and allows you to use
minimal keypresses to get the job done. This program has had some
major upgrading and bug fixing over the years and is Minerva
compatible. The price is $15.
3) QLuMSi DOS 4.30 ISSUE DISK - Al Feng also extensively updated this
recently. This is both an MSDOS simulator and a front end program for
the QL. It also has other programs on the disk to enhance file
management and the cloning of other programs. Educational as well as
useful. The price is $20.
4) QL COMPENDIUM ISSUE DISK - Now a four disk set of useful programs
and utilities taken from UPDATE, plus the latest file compression and
decompression utilities, Tcopye, Quad Format, C utilites, E-forth, and
alien disk file transfers, and more. The best of UPDATE, shareware and
public domain. Still only $20. $5 for an update for past purchasers.
We here at UPDATE encourage all of you programmers out there to submit
to us possible future Issue Disks, with DOC files. You won’t get rich,
but you will possibly make some money and get to help others. Royalty
payments are usually twice a year, based upon previous sales.
TS2068 UPDATE __ISSUE DISKS
These disks contain at least one major piece of software written
specifically for disk drive and are guaranteed to be worth the money.
The rest of the disks are usually filled with various utility programs
taken from the issues of UPDATE, shareware or public domain. On most
of these, half the money goes to the author and is meant to encourage
new programming for the TS2068 that makes use of the various disk
drive systems. To have your particular disk system supported here
requires that someone write or alter the software from one system to
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limited time and programming resources available here. The prices are
as listed beside each piece of software. We can provide all but 3"
disk formats as far as size and disk density. We accept cash, checks,
money orders and C.O.D.
1) THE WIDJUP COLLECTION, contains most of .the popular programs
formerly offered by WIDJUP and written by the late Bill Pedersen. This
is a two disk set, and does not include his CAD Program. It contains
editors, printer drivers, games,TS2068 tutorials, etc. This is a new
release and we will have more about it next issue. In Oliger or Larken
disk formats. The price is $20.
2) WIDJUP’S CAD PROGRAM, a long time favorite that will give you
professional results from your TS2068 in the area of computer aided
design and the development of printed circuits. With the right
graphics it has been also used to print a page for desk top
publishing, or computer art. It requires no expanded memory and is
available for the following setups: (a) Oliger, for either the
Olivetti Ink Jet printer, or for IBM compatible printers. (b) Larken
for IBM compatible printers or for the Olivetti Ink Jet printer.
Please specify disk size, format and printer type. The price is $20.
3) OLIGER DISK DRIVE BBS PROGRAM, this creates a single user BBS
program, with several message bases, E-mail, and SYSOP Chat area. We
have also added many other Oliger disk programs to this collection, as
well as some playtime. This was written by Paul Holmgren. The price is
$20.
4) 24-PIN BIT IMAGE GRAPHICS FOR 24-PIN OR BUBBLE JET PRINTERS, for
Epson emulation modes, by Larry Crawford. This program takes the
mystery out of graphics and some of the newer printers out there on
the market. We also include some extra software with this one, and for
just $15. It is available in Larken and in Oliger disk formats.
Needless to say we are always interested in a new issue disk we can
present here for our readers, so those who are out there writing
programs, send them to us to look at. This helps to keep the TS2068
alive. It is also a way to pick up some pocket money. We usually make
royalty payments twice a year based on previous sales.
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